torture

An Otzma Yehudit (Jewish Power) party conference in the southern city of Netivot, Feburary 16, 2026. (Tsafrir Abayov/Flash90)

Israel’s death penalty drive enters next stage with Oct. 7 military tribunal

Lawmakers voted 93-0 to create a special court to try accused Palestinian perpetrators, designed to subvert due process and lead to mass executions.

By Sari Bashi May 21, 2026

Israel Prison Service officers prepare Palestinian prisoners for release as part of a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, at Ketziot Prison in southern Israel, February 26, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

‘I cannot help my clients’: The impossible task of representing Palestinian detainees

With Israel running its prisons as ‘torture facilities,’ lawyers point to the absence of state and judicial oversight allowing them to operate with impunity.

By Lee Mordechai and Liat Kozma January 27, 2026

Israel Prison Service officers prepare Palestinian prisoners for release as part of a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, at Kteziot Prison, southern Israel, February 26, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

New data reveals 98 Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody since October 7

Post-mortems of the deceased and testimonies from former detainees suggest many died from torture, medical neglect, and food deprivation. According to a leaked Israeli intelligence database, dozens were civilians.

By Yuval Abraham November 17, 2025

Latest

Palestinian prisoners released as part of a ceasefire deal between Israel and Hamas arrive in Khan Younis, in the southern Gaza Strip, October 13, 2025. (Abed Rahim Khatib/Flash90)

‘We expected to die’: Freed Gazan detainees recount Israeli torture

Though overjoyed by their release in the ceasefire, Palestinians — blinded, beaten, and starved in Israeli jails — struggled to absorb unimaginable loss.

By Ibtisam Mahdi October 17, 2025

Palestinian detainees from Gaza seen in a courtyard in a prison in southern Israel, February 14, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

Israeli intelligence data: Militants account for only 1 in 4 Gaza detainees

A classified Israeli army database indicates that the vast majority of the 6,000 Palestinians who have been arrested in Gaza and held in appalling conditions in Israeli detention are civilians, a joint investigation finds.

By Yuval Abraham September 4, 2025

Palestinian prisoners held at Israel's Ofer Prison near Jerusalem, in the occupied West Bank, August 28, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

‘My hands are paralyzed from torture’: Gazans reveal horrors of Ofer Camp

Inmates at Israel's shadowy new facility face non-stop abuse — from deadly beatings and electric shocks, to constant handcuffing and skin diseases.

By Oren Ziv December 19, 2024

Soldiers prevent protesters from entering the Beit Lid military base, July 29, 2024. (Oren Ziv)

A riot for impunity shows Israel’s proud embrace of its crimes

Far-right protesters, soldiers, and MKs rallied for guards suspected of raping a Palestinian detainee. Once fringe, they’re now the public face of the state.

By Oren Ziv August 1, 2024

Palestinian prisoners from Gaza seen at a courtyard in a prison in southern Israel, February 14, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

‘More horrific than Abu Ghraib’: Lawyer recounts visit to Israeli detention center

At Sde Teiman, Khaled Mahajneh found a detained journalist unrecognizable as he described the facility’s violent and inhumane conditions.

By Baker Zoubi June 27, 2024

Prisoners seen at a courtyard in a prison in southern Israel, February 14, 2024. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

The writing was on the wall for Israel’s torture of prisoners

The government has ensured that horrific practices in sites like Sde Teiman can continue with impunity, in violation of international law and medical ethics.

By Janan Abdu May 14, 2024

Palestinian men detained by Israeli forces in Beit Lahiya, in the northern Gaza Strip, are moved to areas near the beach, December 7, 2023. (Social media; used in accordance with Clause 27a of the Copyright Law)

Inside Israel’s torture camp for Gaza detainees

Palestinians arrested in the northern Gaza Strip describe how Israeli soldiers systematically abused civilians and combatants alike, from severe deprivation to brutal physical violence.

By Yuval Abraham January 5, 2024

Palestinians leave the Palestinian Bedouin community of Ein al-Rashash, east of Ramallah, following ongoing attacks by Israeli settlers from a nearby illegal outpost, which intensified during the war with Gaza, October 18, 2023. (Oren Ziv)

Palestinians recount settler, army torture amid surge in West Bank expulsions

Under the shadow of the Gaza war, Israel is displacing rural Palestinian communities en masse. In Wadi al-Siq, the ordeal was particularly horrifying.

By Oren Ziv October 30, 2023

Tareq Barghouth (center) speaks to the Israeli press. (Philippe Bellaïche)

A Palestinian prisoner’s letter to his Israeli occupiers

Do I regret my imprisonment after being convicted of carrying out attacks? That’s complicated. I do regret one thing: letting them push me into a corner.

By Tareq Barghouth March 23, 2023

Yossi Gurvitz. (Ilya Melnikov)

Breaking the wall of denial: In memory of Yossi Gurvitz

Gurvitz revolutionized activist-journalism in Israel, blazing a path for many of us to challenge the mainstream discourse and speak out about the occupation.

By Noam Sheizaf February 21, 2023