On the Agenda

The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps

The report reveals Israel’s abuse and inhuman treatment of Palestinian prisoners since 7 Oct. 2023, based on the testimonies of 55 Palestinians held during that time and released, almost all without charges. The testimonies expose the outcomes of a rushed transformation of more than a dozen military and civilian detention facilities into de-facto torture camps.

Over the past 57 years, Israel has demonstrated it has no intention of ending the occupation of the West Bank and East Jerusalem, but the opposite, working to further entrench it and annex the territory (whether formally or in practice). Military occupation is one element of Israel’s apartheid regime. The international community has evaded its duty to protect the Palestinians using various excuses. The release of the ICJ’s advisory opinion puts an end to these justifications, and now the international community must use every tool to force Israeli decision-makers to end the occupation.

Over the last decade, outposts and “agricultural farms” have become one of the primary methods employed by Israel to take over areas in the West Bank and to expel Palestinian communities. One of the many examples built using this method is the Oppenheimer outpost (or “Barley Farm). This settlement was established north of the town of Deir Istiya in mid-June 2023 by Hadar Oppenheimer, head of the Land Department in the Samaria Regional Council. Initially, tents and a sheep pen were set up, and dozens of sheep were brought to the site.

Freeing the hostages is a worthy goal, especially as Hamas chose to abduct them and does not intend to fulfil its duty to release them unconditionally. Their families are understandably relieved to have their loved ones back after more than eight months in mortal danger in Gaza. Yet the cost to Palestinian lives is horrifying – and predictable, given Israel’s policy on use of force in Gaza. The Israeli government must, therefore, stop promoting the ill-founded idea that hostages can, and should, be freed in military operations. It must immediately reach a deal with Hamas.

On Thursday, 29 February 2024, at around 4:30 P.M., three brothers from the Shawamreh family, Najm a-Din, 29, Salah a-Din, 25, and Nur a-Din, 30, arrived at the western side of the Separation Barrier, near Beit Mirsim. They were headed back home to the village of Deir al-’Asal al-Foqa in Hebron District. The three crossed the barrier into Israeli territory a few days earlier with another brother to pick some ‘aqub (gundelia). A taxi dropped them off near the barrier with another passenger, Muhammad ‘Amru, 21, who was returning from his job in Israel. The four men were planning to climb the barrier using a rope ladder. They were in touch with a Palestinian lookout who was paid to climb the barrier and warn people if Israeli forces are nearby.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutor’s request to issue arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defense Minister Yoav Gallant on suspicion of committing war crimes in Gaza signals Israel’s rapid decline into a moral abyss. The international community is signaling to Israel that it can no longer maintain its policy of violence, killing and destruction without accountability. Likewise, the request for arrest warrants against Hamas leaders for the crimes of October 7 is important and draws a red line where harm to civilians is concerned...

Today, (Monday, 22.2.2024) Israeli human rights group B’Tselem is issuing a new position paper, Manufacturing Famine. The organization concludes, based on various reports from international bodies about the situation in Gaza and on testimonies gathered by B'Tselem's field researchers, that for months, Israel has been committing the crime of starvation under international law in the Gaza Strip.

From the start of the war through January 2024, Israeli forces killed 358 Palestinians in the West Bank, more than half of whom – 187 people – were endangering no one. In January 2024, Israeli forces killed 62 Palestinians in the West Bank, 22 of whom were endangering no one. B’Tselem’s findings regarding several incidents in which Palestinians were killed in January 2024...

On 9 March 2024, around 5:00 P.M., three military jeeps drove along a street in the southern neighborhood of Qabatiya, a town in Jenin District, where eight-year-old ‘Abdallah Saba’anah was playing with two younger relatives. According to the soldiers, the children threw stones at the jeeps and a stone hit the body of one of the jeeps. The jeeps turned around and drove back towards the children, who were scared and ran away to hide in a nearby home. Soldiers got out of one of the jeeps, chased the children into the house and forcefully removed ‘Abdallah...

On 26 Feb. 2023, Sameh Aqtash, 36, was shot and killed in a settler attack on the village of Za'tara, south of Huwarah. Instead of preventing the forseeable assault, Israeli military and police forces stood by as settlers threw stones and then joined them in shooting at the Palestinians. B'Tselem and Earshot found that the shot that killed Aqtash was fired from a small caliber gun, apparently close to the village gate where only settlers were seen, most of them firing guns. It is therefore highly likely that he was shot by a settler in full view of Israeli forces – in yet another example of Israel's policy of encouraging settler violence against defenseless Palestinians in the West Bank.

In December, soldiers and police killed 62 Palestinians in the West Bank, 17 of them minors. Of the persons killed, 36 were endangering no one: 11 were shot while throwing stones or burning tires during clashes, 18 were shot while standing by clashes without taking part (9 of them by an aerial bombing), and 6 were killed in other circumstances. Regarding 1 other Palestinian, B’Tselem could not determine whether he was killed by soldiers or settlers. B’Tselem’s findings regarding several incidents in which Palestinians were killed in Nov. 2023...

Since the war in Gaza broke out, Israel has suspended entry permits into its territory, as well as into parts of the West Bank cut off by the Separation Barrier. The Hajar family from the village of Shweikah in Tulkarm District owns an aluminum factory in the village of Barta’ah a-Sharqiyah. This village and others are trapped in an enclave created by the Separation Barrier, cut off from the rest of the West Bank. The family has been unable to access the factory due to the sweeping suspension of permits...