As the world marks Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, Palestinians are once again left to grieve in silence—abandoned by an international community that continues to turn a blind eye to one of the darkest aspects of Israeli oppression. The prison walls that hold nearly 10,000 Palestinians today are not just barriers of stone and steel; they are part of a broader machinery of dispossession and erasure.

Since October 7, more than 16,000 Palestinians have been arrested, including hundreds of women and children. These numbers do not account for the thousands detained from Gaza, many of whom have simply vanished—held without names, without trials, and without any trace. Their forced disappearance is not an isolated incident; it is part of a systematic assault on Palestinian life and identity.

The testimonies emerging from Israeli prisons are harrowing. Former detainees speak of torture, starvation, medical neglect, and humiliation so profound that it defies belief. Some report being denied food and water for days, others describe repeated beatings and threats of sexual violence. The prison cells have become spaces where suffering is engineered, where the barest conditions for survival are intentionally denied.

Since 1967, over 300 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody. Forty of the 63 confirmed deaths since October were from Gaza alone. Behind these numbers are stories of lives cut short not in combat, but through cruelty—deaths caused by deliberate neglect and brutality. Scabies, a treatable condition, has been left to spread unchecked among detainees, turning illness into yet another weapon.

Israel’s use of administrative detention has also reached unprecedented levels, with nearly 3,500 Palestinians held without charge or trial—including children. Meanwhile, new detention camps have been erected to manage the overflow of prisoners. But these are not facilities of justice—they are sites of collective punishment and silencing.

On this day, Palestinians do not only remember the imprisoned. They remember the world’s silence, the failure to hold Israel accountable, and the complicity of those who call for “peace” while ignoring the ongoing torture of a people behind bars. Until these prisons are emptied and justice prevails, every day will remain a testimony to the resilience of a people who refuse to be broken—even in chains.