Palestinians say violent abuse rife in Israeli jails

Violence, extreme hunger, humiliation and other abuse of Palestinian prisoners has been normalised across Israel's jail system, according to Guardian interviews with released prisoners, with mistreatment now so systemic that the rights group B'Tselem says it must be considered a policy of "institutionalised abuse".

- Bethan McKernan

Former detainees described abuse ranging from severe beatings and sexual violence to starvation rations, refusal of medical care, and deprivation of basic needs including water, daylight, electricity and sanitation, including soap and sanitary pads for women.

In a months-long investigation, B'Tselem interviewed 55 former prisoners housed in 16 Israeli prison service jails and detention centres run by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF), mapping the scale and nature of abuse. The highly respected Jerusalem-based group concluded that Israel's prisons should now be labelled "torture camps".

"When we started the project we thought we would find sporadic evidence and extreme cases here and there, but the picture that has emerged is completely different," said Yuli Novak, the organisation's executive director.

"We were shocked by the scale of what we heard. It is uncomfortable as an Israeli-Palestinian organisation to say Israel is running torture camps.

But we realised that is what we are looking at." The Israel Prison Service (IPS) said it operated according to the law and under the oversight of the state comptroller. "We are not aware of the claims you described and as far as we know, no such events have occurred under IPS responsibility," it said in a statement. The IPS also claimed that several petitions regarding jail conditions filed by human rights organisations had been rejected by the supreme court.

The IDF said it "rejects outright allegations concerning systematic abuse of detainees in detention facilities" and acts "in accordance with Israeli law and international law". Allegations of abuse were thoroughly examined, a statement said. Conditions for detainees had significantly improved throughout the war, it added.