For 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, Ramadan has become a month of relentless abuse, starvation, and psychological torment. Freed detainees recount harrowing testimonies of a holy month stripped of its sanctity, marked by deliberate cruelty and systematic oppression.  

Prisoners describe being denied basic necessities, such as clocks to determine suhoor and iftar times, and access to copies of the Quran. In the Negev Desert Prison, Abu Hassan recalls the pain of losing even the simplest comforts: “We never knew the time, and the prison administration refused to place a clock in the yards.” Worship was stifled, with the call to prayer banned and Friday sermons treated as a threat.  

Food became a weapon of torture. Suhoor often consisted of dry bread, while iftar was cobbled together from scraps of lunch and dinner. Sheikh Ahmad, an imam held in Rimon Prison, describes the meals as “flavored with patience rather than sustenance.” Resistance was met with harsh punishments, including electricity cuts that forced prisoners to eat in complete darkness.  

Religious practices were heavily monitored and suppressed. Prison guards conducted surveillance rounds every 30 minutes, listening closely to supplications and Quran recitations. Copies of the Quran were torn apart, and writing materials were banned. For performing the call to prayer, Bakr Khreiysh from Tulkarm was beaten unconscious, with his entire cell punished for his “crime.”  

Deception added to the suffering. Prisoners were misled about iftar times, forcing them to endure unnecessary hunger. Abu Mo’men, freed from Gilboa Prison, calls this Ramadan the “worst in the history of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement,” marked by crackdowns, abuse, and starvation.  

As the holy month passed, the darkness of torture, isolation, and oppression remained. For Palestinian detainees, Ramadan was not a time of spiritual renewal but a stark reminder of their resilience in the face of relentless cruelty.