In the shadow of the war on Gaza, Israeli prisons have morphed into theatres of unrestrained brutality. Palestinian organisations monitoring detention conditions, including the Prisoners' Club, Addameer, and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, have raised the alarm over a sweeping and systematic campaign of torture against Palestinian detainees that has surged since the onset of the genocide in Gaza.

This brutality begins at the moment of arrest: abductions marked by severe beatings, psychological torment, and dehumanising restraint. Survivors speak of methods designed not merely to extract information but to break the human spirit, from prolonged stress positions and electric shocks to forced nudity, exposure to the elements, and mock executions. In Gaza, accounts have emerged of prisoners suffering amputations without anaesthesia, while others describe mass beatings in prison courtyards, the use of dogs, and assaults that continue for hours.

Torture, once concentrated in interrogation rooms, has seeped into the daily architecture of imprisonment. Israeli forces have introduced new and grotesque tools of abuse: from enforced sleeplessness and starvation to chemical burns and soldiers urinating on food, water, and even the detainees themselves. One method, shabeh, or suspension by the limbs, is reported with disturbing frequency.

Perhaps most chilling are the testimonies from camps like Sdeh Teiman, which former detainees describe as a “slaughterhouse” and “a gate to hell.” Here, Palestinians from Gaza recount rape, sexual violence, and executions carried out in cold blood. The documentation of these atrocities, some brazenly shared by Israeli officials, serves not only as evidence but as a tool of humiliation.

The psychological scars are no less severe. Former prisoners, including women and children, bear witness to trauma that words struggle to convey. The denial of medical care has become a weapon itself, skin diseases like scabies are allowed to spread untreated, adding another layer of misery to already unbearable conditions.

Even visits by lawyers have been turned into scenes of violence and intimidation. Cameras are absent, but the testimonies are many.

With over 10,000 Palestinians currently held, including more than 440 children and thousands without charge, human rights organisations warn that what is unfolding is not a breakdown of the system, but the system itself. Torture is no longer an aberration. It is a strategy of control.

Calls to the international community to intervene have largely been met with silence. Reports are written, statements issued, but action remains absent. Until those responsible are held to account, the cycle of abuse will continue, behind prison walls, and out of sight.