Israeli authorities have significantly increased their utilization of administrative detention, a form of arbitrary detainment, in the occupied West Bank, perpetuating a distressing surge in human rights abuses against Palestinian detainees. Over the past four weeks, the extension of emergency measures, facilitating inhuman and degrading treatment of prisoners, has been coupled with a failure to investigate reported incidents of torture and deaths in custody, as reported by Amnesty International.
Since October 7, more than 2,200 Palestinian men and women have been detained by Israeli forces, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club. During the same period, the number of Palestinians held in administrative detention, without charge or trial, soared from 1,319 to 2,070, as reported by the Israeli human rights organization HaMoked.
Testimonies from released detainees, human rights lawyers, and visual evidence have vividly depicted instances of torture and ill-treatment by Israeli forces over the past month. These include severe beatings, forced humiliations, and the imposition of degrading conditions on detainees.
Heba Morayef, Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa at Amnesty International, remarked on the alarming increase in administrative detention, emphasizing its role as a tool enforcing Israel’s apartheid system against Palestinians. Morayef unequivocally condemned summary killings and hostage-taking by armed groups, emphasizing that such actions constitute war crimes. However, she urged Israeli authorities not to exploit these incidents to justify unlawful attacks, collective punishment, and human rights violations against Palestinian prisoners.
Amnesty International researchers conducted interviews with released detainees, their relatives, and lawyers, corroborating claims of torture and humiliation. Disturbing images and videos circulating online have revealed Israeli soldiers beating and degrading blindfolded and stripped Palestinian detainees.
The report highlighted an incident in Wadi al-Seeq, where victims described brutal beatings, humiliation, and even urination by Israeli officers. Amnesty International also documented the arbitrary detention of two women in East Jerusalem, subjected to humiliation, strip searches, and forced cursing of Hamas.
Since October 7, four Palestinian detainees have reportedly died in Israeli detention facilities, with circumstances requiring impartial investigation. International law deems torture and ill-treatment against protected persons in occupied territories as war crimes. The detention of Palestinians from the occupied territories in Israel is considered a violation of international humanitarian law.
The extension of the “state of emergency in prisons” by Israeli authorities has raised further concerns, granting unrestrained powers to deny prisoners access to legal and familial visits. The International Committee of the Red Cross confirmed the denial of contact between Palestinian prisoners and their families since October 7.
Israeli authorities must reverse these inhumane measures, provide immediate access to lawyers and families for Palestinian prisoners, and release those arbitrarily detained. Calls for impartial and independent investigations into complaints of torture and ill-treatment, with fair trials for those responsible, underscore the urgency of addressing these grave human rights violations.