A detailed review of the conditions inside the camp known as Gilad, within the military facility at Ofer near Ramallah, reveals what amounts to a genocidal-war environment for the prisoners held there. According to legal testimony, around one hundred to one hundred and twenty men are crammed into twelve cells, roughly sixteen per room, without basic hygiene or even enough bedding. The rooms have only metal-frame beds with exceedingly thin mattresses, and some are forced to sleep on the floor. Windows with open iron bars let in cold air and rain, and each man receives just one blanket and one towel, often only replaced after weeks, and frequently in filthy condition. 

Clothing and hygiene supplies are severely restricted: shirts and underwear are changed only once a week, trousers only when torn. Showers are held outside the rooms with cold water, and detainees must use dish-washing liquid instead of shampoo. Meals are reportedly nothing more than bread and yoghurt for most of the week, with tuna or sausages appearing only once in that period. On top of this, punishment practices include solitary confinement, beatings and electric shocks, according to one lawyer’s statement. Detainees are shackled, blindfolded during visits and forced to walk with bowed heads. 

Such treatment is neither incidental nor sporadic, but systematic: daily raids, counts four times a day forcing men to kneel, prohibition on sleeping past 6 a.m., and punishments for the most trivial of pretexts.  These conditions reflect a broader strategy of collective punishment and erasure of dignity. The implications for human rights are stark: international law forbids treatment that amounts to torture or cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment, and yet this scenario speaks loudly of a crackdown that paralyses both body and spirit.