Al Jazeera reports worsening conditions for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons
Testimony from former detainee Muath Amarneh and data from Addameer allege beatings, inadequate medical care and expanded administrative detention.
Al Jazeera has reported allegations of worsening conditions for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, citing testimony from former detainee and photojournalist Muath Amarneh, as well as data from Palestinian prisoners’ advocacy group Addameer.
Amarneh said he was detained twice without charge, including for nine months from 2023 at Megiddo and Nafha prisons and for eight months from 2025 at Ofer prison. He alleged beatings, humiliation, restricted hygiene, inadequate medical treatment and prolonged deprivation of basic items.
Addameer estimates that about 3,200 Palestinians are currently held in administrative detention, more than double its estimate of roughly 1,300 detainees before 7 October 2023. The report says family visits and Red Cross access were suspended after 7 October, while lawyers were barred during the first four or five months.
Sahar Francis, Addameer’s executive director, said the prison system’s existing harshness had intensified during Itamar Ben-Gvir’s tenure as minister responsible for the prison authority. She alleged that health clinics were shuttered and that detainees were subjected to daily raids and beatings, which she said had contributed to deaths in custody.
Ben-Gvir has publicly defended prison conditions and posted footage from inside detention facilities, including a video later deleted after comparisons with Nazi concentration camps. Al Jazeera said Ben-Gvir, Israel’s National Security Ministry and the military did not respond to requests for comment.
The allegations have not been independently verified in full. Israel and the United States accuse Addameer of supporting terrorism, a charge the group denies. The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention ruled in 2024 that Amarneh’s first detention was unlawful and discriminatory.
