On 28 July 2026, sixty Palestinian men released from Israeli detention were returned to Gaza and admitted to Nasser Medical Complex in Khan Younis, many arriving frail, visibly injured and in wheelchairs as relatives and medical staff gathered outside. The group, described by Al Jazeera as the largest single release of Gaza detainees since the October ceasefire that saw roughly 1,700 prisoners freed, is part of a broader population of nearly 1,300 Gazans held under Israel’s “unlawful combatant” designation, according to HaMoked and Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. Israeli media cited military sources saying the men were freed
“after completing interrogations and determining they were no longer classified as security suspects,”
a formulation that implicitly frames earlier detention as necessary for security.
Testimonies from the freed: abuse as routine, not exception
The released detainees’ accounts converge on a pattern of systematic physical abuse, prolonged isolation, and medical neglect across multiple facilities. Abdullah Kilani, seized in December 2024 on Salah al‑Din Street in central Gaza and held for more than 18 months, told Anadolu that he and another detainee were shot while in custody and that
“the conditions were extremely harsh,”
adding he still cannot believe he is free. Abu Ibrahim, who gave only his first name, described being forced to sit for long hours on bare concrete or iron slabs and being beaten with rifle butts, insisting
“there was no distinction between young men and the elderly.”
Mohammed Jabr al‑Majdalawi, 43, held for a year and nine months including six months at Sde Teiman, said he had no contact with the outside world until meeting Red Cross staff before release and cried that “words cannot describe” their suffering, warning that
“detainees who remain inside are still in danger”
and urging international organizations to act.
Where they were held: a network of notorious sites
The men were held in several sites that rights groups have repeatedly flagged: Ofer Prison, the Negev (Ketziot) Prison, and the Sde Teiman military detention center in the Negev desert. Lawyers and NGOs also document similar abuses in the underground Rakevet section of the Ram (Nitzan) complex near Ramla, where detainees report physical assaults, starvation, and denial of medical care despite grave injuries. Palestinian legal representatives have told media that in Rakevet, prisoners are
“stripped of natural light and subjected to severe violence,”
with one detainee, KHD, reporting that guards retaliate by “breaking their thumbs.” Sde Teiman, described by other inmates as a place that “breaks men,” has been the subject of repeated allegations of killings, torture, and sexual violence since October 2023.
The UN, rights groups, and the label “torture camps”
These testimonies are not isolated; they echo a wider body of documentation from UN bodies and Israeli and Palestinian rights organizations. The UN Commission of Inquiry has reported that Palestinian children arrested by Israel have faced torture, sexual abuse and other mistreatment in detention. UN Special Rapporteur Francesca Albanese’s report “Torture and Genocide” concludes that since October 7, 2023, Palestinians in detention have suffered
“exceptionally brutal physical and psychological maltreatment”
and that torture in detention is used
“on an unprecedented scale as punitive collective vengeance.”
B’Tselem, in a 2026 report, characterizes Israeli prisons as akin to “torture camps,” documenting systematic mistreatment including physical and psychological abuse, deplorable living conditions, intentional starvation, and denial of medical care. Its findings include accounts of sexual violence such as sexual assaults, forced disrobing, severe genital injuries from beatings, attacks involving dogs, and penetration with various objects.
Sexual violence and the “disco room”: dehumanization as policy
Testimonies also describe extreme violence during interrogations, including in a location known as the “disco room,” where prisoners were subjected to electrical shocks at intervals while being denied food and bathroom access. Palestinian and Israeli rights groups have documented frequent beatings, medical neglect, deprivation of food, prolonged restraint and deaths across multiple facilities. Kifaya Khraim from the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling in Ramallah told Al Jazeera that reports of torture and sexual violence in Israeli prisons are “very widespread,” noting that after interviewing 75 women held in various centers and police stations across Gaza, the occupied West Bank, and Jerusalem, all reported experiences of sexual violence including rape, sexual torture, humiliation, or degradation. A UN report cited testimonies that detainees were confined in
“cage-like environments, stripped of clothing for extended durations, wearing only diapers,”
and suffered deprivation of food, sleep, and water, as well as being burned with cigarettes, attacked by dogs, waterboarded, or suspended from the ceiling.
The scale: how many are detained, how many have died
The numerical scope is stark. About 9,600 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including some children, with rights groups noting around 350 minors and 84 women among those detainees. The UN Human Rights office in the Occupied Palestinian Territory reported that between 7 October 2023 and 31 August 2025, at least 75 Palestinians, including a 17‑year‑old child, have died in Israeli detention. B’Tselem puts the figure higher, reporting at least 84 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody since October 2023, many from mistreatment, starvation and denial of medical care, and notes that 80 bodies are still withheld from families. Physicians for Human Rights–Israel (PHRI) has reported at least 94 Palestinian detainees killed in custody over a longer period, suggesting torture, physical assault, deliberate medical neglect or starvation as causes. Monitoring group Healthcare Workers Watch reports that 446 Palestinian health workers have been unlawfully detained since October 7, 2023, with six reportedly killed in detention and bodies still held.
The legal architecture: “unlawful combatants” and incommunicado detention
A 2002 Israeli law allows authorities to hold individuals as “unlawful combatants” without formal charges or regular judicial proceedings, prolonging detention on undisclosed “security grounds,” as noted by Al Mezan Center for Human Rights. Amnesty International has called for an end to Israel’s
“indefinite incommunicado detention of Palestinians from the occupied Gaza Strip, without charge or trial under the Unlawful Combatants law, in flagrant violation of international law.”
UN experts have documented
“the systematic torture and ill-treatment to which Israel has subjected Palestinian prisoners, including repeated beatings, waterboarding, stress positions, the use of rape and other sexual and gender-based violence and the imposition of deliberately inhumane conditions such as starvation and the denial of clean clothes, hygiene necessities and medical care.”
The ICRC says it has been unable to access Palestinians in Israeli detention since October 2023, repeatedly calling for access to locate detainees and inspect conditions.
Israeli state narrative and denials
Israeli authorities typically deny allegations of torture and sexual violence, framing detentions as necessary security measures against terrorism and emphasizing legal frameworks such as the “unlawful combatant” law. In high‑profile abuse cases, such as allegations of sexual assault by soldiers, charges have sometimes been dropped, reinforcing perceptions of impunity among critics and rights organizations. Military statements around this latest release stress that detainees were freed only after interrogations confirmed they were “no longer security suspects,” implicitly justifying earlier detention.
Why this matters: Gaza’s shattered recovery and the politics of detention
The released detainees return to a Gaza devastated by years of bombardment and blockade, with food, shelter and medical care scarce—Al Jazeera notes that their physical recovery will be hampered by the broader humanitarian collapse. TRT‑World/Anadolu summarizes that Israel has killed at least 1,203 Palestinians and injured 3,900 more in Gaza since an October 10, 2025 ceasefire, and that around 90 percent of civilian infrastructure has been destroyed, with UN reconstruction estimates of 70 billion USD. The accumulating testimonies and statistics feed arguments that Israel’s detention practices amount to crimes against humanity and potentially form part of a genocidal policy, language increasingly used by Palestinian groups, some NGOs and UN experts. For diplomatic and advocacy arenas, these cases are becoming a focal point for calls to condition arms transfers and security cooperation on human rights benchmarks, including access for ICRC and independent monitors to all detention sites.
From individual pain to systemic indictment
The core claim emerging from this release is not simply that some guards abused some prisoners, but that the system itself is designed to dehumanize and punish collectively. Palestinian Prisoner’s Society states that Israeli authorities systematically circulate images and videos of torture and humiliation of detainees, describing this as using torture as public spectacle and collective intimidation. Investigative documentaries and open‑source inquiries highlight a pattern of beatings, starvation, sexual violence, medical neglect and psychological abuse across multiple facilities, under the authority of military and political officials such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben‑Gvir. UN experts and rights groups repeatedly frame these practices as a deliberate, institutional policy rather than isolated misconduct, linking detention abuses to wider strategies of repression and population control in Gaza and the occupied territories.
