The Palestinian Center for Prisoners’ Advocacy is closely following with deep concern the grave violations being committed against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons, violations that directly threaten their dignity and their lives.
In this context, the Center’s documentation team conducted direct interviews with several of the 12 prisoners who were released by the Israeli authorities on Sunday, June 8, 2025, after months of arbitrary detention accompanied by severe abuses.
The released detainees were freed at the Kissufim checkpoint (southeast of the Gaza Strip) and transferred to Al-Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al-Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, for medical examinations after enduring systematic starvation and both physical and psychological torture inside Israeli prisons.
The testimonies documented by the Center reveal that the detainees were subjected to inhumane conditions of detention, including:
- Continuous physical and psychological torture using internationally prohibited methods
- Deliberate starvation and prolonged deprivation of food and water
- Systematic medical neglect, especially for the wounded and injured, who were left without treatment
- Detention in military sites not designated for civilians, for extended periods without charge or trial
- Group assaults inside detention centers, including beatings, suspension, and forced stripping
Several released prisoners confirmed to the Center’s team that they were arrested during military incursions into their areas since the beginning of the aggression on Gaza on October 7, 2023, and that some were in critical health condition at the time of their release due to the torture and ill-treatment they suffered.
The Center warns of the continued policy of enforced disappearance targeting thousands of Palestinian detainees from Gaza, whose whereabouts and health conditions the Israeli authorities refuse to disclose.
The Center affirms that these practices constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions, and amount to war crimes and crimes against humanity. It calls on:
- The International Committee of the Red Cross to issue a detailed report on the condition of the released prisoners and their detention conditions
- The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and the UN Secretary-General to form an independent international investigation committee
- The International Criminal Court (ICC) to include these crimes in its ongoing investigations into the Israeli occupation.
