SAFA — Director-General of Gaza’s Government Media Office Ismail Al-Thawabta said Israeli prisons and detention camps have become sites where Palestinian prisoners and detainees are subjected to severe torture and systematic, “silent killing.”

In remarks to Al-Resalah Net, Al-Thawabta called on the international community, United Nations agencies and human rights organizations to assume their legal, moral and historical responsibilities toward grave and unprecedented violations against Palestinian prisoners.

Citing documented testimonies and accounts, Al-Thawabta said Palestinian detainees, particularly those taken from the Gaza Strip, have been subjected to severe physical and psychological abuse. He said reported violations include prolonged stress positions, beatings, deliberate starvation, forced nudity, sleep deprivation and medical neglect, leaving prisoners without adequate treatment for illnesses and serious injuries.

Al-Thawabta said these practices should not be viewed as isolated incidents, but as part of a systematic policy carried out with the knowledge of Israel’s political, military and security authorities and aimed at degrading and punishing Palestinian prisoners.

He also said dozens of Palestinian prisoners have died in interrogation facilities and isolation cells, particularly at detention facilities such as Sde Teiman. According to Al-Thawabta, some prisoners were deliberately killed through direct physical violence or fatal abuse, while others died after being denied medical treatment for serious injuries.

He described such cases as unlawful killings carried out amid a policy of media blackout and enforced disappearance intended to conceal the circumstances surrounding prisoners’ detention and deaths.

Al-Thawabta said the abuses constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, including protections provided under the Geneva Conventions for prisoners of war and civilians under occupation.

He further said torture resulting in death, deliberate killing and enforced disappearance may constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity under the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, calling for urgent international accountability.

Al-Thawabta held Israel and its supporting parties responsible for the safety and lives of Palestinian prisoners and detainees. He called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to press for access to Israeli prisons and detention camps, determine the fate of forcibly disappeared detainees and document their conditions.

He also called on the United Nations and the UN Human Rights Council to establish an independent international commission of inquiry to investigate allegations of torture and unlawful killings in Israeli detention facilities and publish its findings transparently.

Al-Thawabta further urged the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to launch an immediate investigation into the violations and pursue accountability for those responsible, including political and military officials and prison authorities, in accordance with international law.

He concluded by saying that the issue of Palestinian prisoners remains a major national priority, expressing solidarity with detainees and calling for continued international efforts to expose violations and secure their release and return to their families.