Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody have surged. A prison guard describes rampant abuse

This 2024 photo provided by Breaking The Silence, a whistleblower group of former Israeli soldiers, shows prisoners with their hands and legs restrained in the yard at the Sde Teiman military prison in southern Israel. (Breaking The Silence via AP)

TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) — The number of Palestinians dying in Israeli custody surged to nearly 100 people since the start of the war in Gaza, according to a report published Monday by a human rights group that says systematic violence and denial of medical care at prisons and detention centers contributed to many of the deaths it examined.

The picture that emerges from the report by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel is consistent with findings by The Associated Press, which interviewed more than a dozen people about prison abuses, medical neglect and deaths, analyzed available data, and reviewed reports of autopsies. AP spoke with a former guard and a former nurse at one prison, an Israeli doctor who treated malnourished prisoners brought to his hospital, former detainees and their relatives, and lawyers representing them and rights groups.

The former guard at a military prison notorious for its harsh treatment of Palestinians told the AP detainees were routinely shackled with chains and kicked and hit with batons, and that the facility had been dubbed a “graveyard” because so many prisoners were dying there. He agreed to talk to AP to raise awareness of violence in Israeli prisons and spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal.

Of the 98 prisoner deaths PHRI documented since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war, 27 occurred in 2023, 50 in 2024 and 21 this year, the most recent on Nov. 2. PHRI says the actual death toll over this timeframe is “likely significantly higher,” noting that Israel has refused to provide information about hundreds of Palestinians detained during the war.

Fewer than 30 Palestinians died in Israeli custody in the 10 years preceding the war, PHRI says. But since the war, the prison population more than doubled to 11,000 as people were rounded up, mainly from Gaza and the West Bank. The number of prisoners dying grew at an even faster rate over that period, PHRI data shows.

PHRI documented deaths by interviewing former detainees and prison medical staff, examining reports prepared by doctors who observed autopsies at the behest of dead prisoners’ families, and confirming dozens of fatalities through freedom of information requests.

“The alarming rate at which people are killed in Israeli custody reveals a system that has lost all moral and professional restraint,” said Naji Abbas, a director at PHRI.

Last year, the head of Israel’s prison system, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, boasted that he had degraded prison conditions to the legal minimum. Under pressure from rights groups, conditions improved slightly.

Israel’s Prison Service said it operates in accordance with the law. It declined to comment on the death count and directed any inquiries to Israel’s army.

The army said it is aware some detainees have died, including people with pre-existing illnesses or combat-related injuries. But army spokesperson Nadav Shoshani said the death count in the PHRI report is inflated, while declining to say what the army believes the real number to be.

The army also said allegations of abuse or inadequate conditions are assessed, and that those who violate the army’s code of conduct are punished and sometimes subject to criminal investigations.

Guards told to reduce the number of deaths

Although hesitant at first, the former guard at the Sde Teiman military prison in southern Israel said he eventually participated in beatings of prisoners.

One morning, early in Israel’s war against Hamas, the guard arrived at work to see a motionless Palestinian lying on his side in the yard, yet no guards rushed to see what had happened to the man, who was dead.

“It was sort of business as usual with the dead guy,” said the guard, who didn’t know the cause of death.

Prisoners’ arms and legs were always in chains, and they were beaten if they moved or spoke, the guard said, adding that nearly all would urinate and defecate on themselves rather than ask to use the bathroom.

The former nurse at Sde Teiman said chains used to restrain many prisoners’ arms and legs caused such severe wounds that some needed their limbs to be amputated. She spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal. During the several weeks she worked there at the start of last year she didn’t see anyone die, but she said the staff at times talked about prisoner deaths. She left the job because she didn’t like the abusive treatment of the prisoners, she said.

The army said prolonged handcuffing is implemented only in exceptional cases when there are “significant security considerations.” Even then, detainees’ medical condition is taken into account, it said. Only a few detainees from Gaza are currently being handled this way, it added.

Guards were told by their commanders — who also participated in the beatings -- that they needed to reduce the deaths, according to the Sde Teiman guard, who spent several months there.

Eventually cameras were installed, which helped mitigate the abuse, he said. Twenty-nine prisoners have died at Sde Teiman since the war began, according to PHRI.

Earlier this year, an Israeli soldier was convicted of abusing Palestinians in Sde Teiman and sentenced to seven months in prison, according to the army, which said this shows there is accountability.

But lawyers for prisoners say Israel rarely conducts serious investigations into alleged violence and that this fuels the problem.

In a sign of the public climate, the Israeli military’s top lawyer was recently forced to resign after acknowledging she approved the leak of a surveillance video at the centre of an investigation into allegations of severe sexual abuse against a Palestinian at Sde Teiman. The leak, meant to defend the decision by her office to prosecute guards for the alleged abuses, instead triggered fierce criticism from hard-line Israeli leaders who sympathized with the guards.

Several soldiers were indicted in that case, which is still pending before the military court.

Medical neglect and abuse

It is difficult to pinpoint with certainty the cause of death for most prisoners. Sometimes, at the behest of prisoners’ families, doctors were granted permission by Israel to attend autopsies and provided reports to the families on what they saw.

Eight reports seen by the AP showed a pattern of physical abuse and medical neglect.

In one, a 45-year-old man who died in Kishon detention centre, Mohammad Husein Ali, showed multiple signs of physical assault, likely causing brain bleed, according to the report. The potential use of excessive restraints was also noted. His family said he was healthy before he was detained from his home in the West Bank. He died within a week of being imprisoned.

Husein Ali had previously served time in an Israeli prison after being convicted of association with militancy, according to his family. But they said he had no ties with militants when he was arrested last year.

After Husein Ali was taken, his two-year-old daughter would stare out the window calling for her father, said his wife, Hadeel. “She’d say ‘baba, where’s baba’, but after time she stopped asking,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes.

Malnutrition was a contributing factor in at least one death, according to PHRI, leading to a 17-year-old boy dying from starvation.

In September, Israel’s Supreme Court ordered that more and better food be served to Palestinian inmates. Rights groups say the situation has slightly improved.

The army said detainees receive three meals a day, approved by a dietitian. It said every detainee is examined by a doctor upon arrival and, for those who need it, monitored with regular checkups.

Former prisoner can’t forget what he witnessed

Sariy Khuorieh, an Israeli-Palestinian lawyer from Haifa, said he was detained at the start of the war after Israel accused him of inciting violence through his social media posts. While in Megiddo prison for 10 days, Khuorieh says he saw a man die after repeated beatings.

Khuorieh said the 33-year-old father of four from the West Bank was beaten almost daily. The man, and some of his relatives, had close ties to Hamas, according to a Palestinian security official and someone who knew the family, both of whom spoke on condition of anonymity out of concern for retaliation.

The night before the man died, he screamed in pain for hours while in solitary confinement, said Khuorieh, who choked back tears while recounting what happened. The man had repeatedly called for a doctor, but none came, Khourieh said.

A spokesperson for Israel’s Prison Service wouldn’t comment on the case.

A report written about the man’s autopsy seen by AP said the cause of death was inconclusive but that there were signs of old and new bruising, including broken ribs. The report said it could be assumed that violence contributed to his death.

When the guards opened the man’s cell they kicked and beat him before summoning a physician who tried to revive him and then pronounced him dead, said Khuorieh, who said he was able to see what was happening through the small window in his cell door.

Once the man was pronounced dead, Khuorieh said one of the officer’s laughed and said: there’s “at least one less” to care about.

Sam Mednick, The Associated Press