On the occasion of the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, we, at the Palestinian Center for Prisoners’ Advocacy, affirm that Israel continues to systematically commit psychological and physical torture crimes against Palestinian detainees, entrenching inside its prisons one of the most horrific forms of organized violation of human dignity and the right to physical and psychological safety.
Israeli occupation is among the entities most involved in torture crimes worldwide, as Israeli prisons have become closed spaces where the most brutal forms of repression are practiced, including beatings, humiliation, stress positions, starvation, solitary confinement, denial of medical treatment, sexual assaults, and complex forms of physical and psychological torture.
The torture crimes inside Israeli prisons do not occur as individual violations, but rather as part of an organized policy sponsored by the occupation’s agencies and prison forces. This policy aims to break detainees, terrorize them, and strip them of their dignity, in clear violation of the UN Convention Against Torture, the Geneva Conventions, and all relevant international treaties.
According to our data, around 150 Palestinian detainees have died inside Israeli occupation prisons as a result of torture and related violations and medical neglect, including around 90 detainees during the past two years of the genocidal war.
Israeli prisons today represent some of the most dangerous detention facilities in the world for human life and dignity, where psychological and physical torture crimes continue in a blatant manner.
Some testimonies describe sadistic practices and sexual assaults, carried out under the political and legal protection provided by the occupation government to criminals and prison guards.
We call on the states parties to the Convention Against Torture, the United Nations, and international human rights organizations to take serious action to compel the occupation to stop torture crimes against Palestinian detainees, open prisons to independent investigative committees, and ensure direct and safe access by international institutions to the victims.
We also call for the prosecution and accountability of Israeli war criminals involved in issuing orders or carrying out torture crimes against detainees, and for an end to the policy of impunity that encourages the occupation to expand its crimes inside prisons.
In conclusion, we affirm that opposing torture is not achieved through slogans, but through holding torturers accountable, protecting victims, and ending the Israeli torture system. We warn that continued international silence makes the international community complicit in leaving Palestinian detainees under the machinery of daily torture.
The Palestinian Center for Prisoners’ Advocacy
Friday, June 26, 2026
