Spike in Israeli assaults against key Palestinian detainees, prisoners' office says

The Palestinian Prisoners' Media Office has accused Israel of a "dangerous escalation" in its targeting of detained Palestinian leaders and prominent figures.

In a press release issued Wednesday, the office said several leading Palestinians were dragged into prison yards and beaten with batons "until they bled".

Those subject to "brutal attacks", the office added, include Hamas officials Abdullah Barghouti and Bilal Barghouti, as well as Ahed Abu Ghalma, a leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

The office said the assaults are "aimed at breaking their will and turning them into instruments of intimidation for other prisoners".

"These failed attempts to break their spirits and make an example of them are being carried out in conjunction with an escalation of psychological warfare against the leadership," it said.

Family members of prominent Palestinian figure Marwan Barghouti have also received "threats and security pressures intended to spread fear and undermine morale", according to the statement.

Marwan himself has suffered at least seven brutal beatings in the past few months, resulting in multiple broken ribs.

A recent joint statement issued by the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society said his family received an anonymous call informing of the brutal assault that took place inside his cell.

The two groups said that his lawyer was able to visit him on Sunday, adding that he is "fully conscious and strong despite his ongoing suffering from the effects of previous attacks he had endured in recent months".

Marwan was last beaten on 15 September, a month after Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir was filmed threatening to "obliterate" anyone who opposes Israel.

'Catastrophic conditions'

The recent violence against key Palestinian leaders comes amid an overall escalation in abuses against detainees in Israeli-run prisons and detention centres. 

The Prisoners' Media Office warned that detainment conditions have become "catastrophic and unprecedented", with detainees enduring daily beatings and torture, deliberate starvation, extreme cold, denial of winter clothing and blankets, the spread of diseases, and medical neglect.

Marwan Barghouti brutally assaulted in Israeli prison, family told

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The Palestinian Prisoners' Affairs Commission relayed a similar picture, describing the recent testimonies collected as a "catastrophic reality" faced by Palestinians. 

The commission stressed that prison conditions have reached "deadly levels of systematic repression and abuse", with ongoing reports of disease outbreaks, overcrowding and a deliberate obstruction of medical treatments. 

"This poses a real threat to their lives, especially for the sick and elderly, amid growing fears that their health conditions will worsen and become critical," it added. 

Reports of systemic abuse and torture in Israeli custody have surged to record levels since the genocidal war in Gaza began. At least 100 prisoner deaths under these conditions have been documented since October 2023.

More than 9,300 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, among them 51 women and 350 children, though the real figure is likely higher as Israel withholds information on hundreds seized from Gaza.

Nearly half of all Palestinian detainees are held without charge or trial under indefinitely renewable administrative detention orders.