Conditions inside Israeli detention facilities have plunged into what lawyers and monitoring groups describe as an unprecedented collapse, with prisoners reporting levels of mistreatment unseen in previous decades. Since the beginning of the genocidal war in Gaza in October 2023, detainees have faced rapidly deteriorating treatment, marked by extreme overcrowding, routine violence, and harsh restrictions imposed with little oversight.

Prisoners held in these facilities describe daily practices that include severe physical intimidation, prolonged isolation, and a sweeping denial of basic needs. Reports indicate that individuals of all ages, including minors, elderly detainees, and people with chronic illnesses, have been subjected to physical and psychological violations that contravene widely recognised international standards. Observers say the current atmosphere reflects a punitive strategy rather than a system aimed at lawful detention.

Over the past two years, mass arrests across the West Bank, Jerusalem, and Gaza have led to an overwhelming rise in the prison population. Advocacy groups have recorded more than 21,000 detentions, accompanied by widespread accounts of intimidation during raids, pressure on families, and, in some cases, killings occurring during arrest operations. In parallel, political efforts inside Israel have pushed for harsher penal measures, including legislation aimed at expanding capital punishment for these prisoners.

According to human-rights defenders, these measures deepen long-standing policies designed to restrict and control an entire population. While abuses had been documented in previous years, those monitoring the situation insist that the scale and intensity reached since the beginning of the genocidal war are without precedent. They describe a system now defined by repression as a structural feature rather than an excess.