A day in the life of a Palestinian
in Israeli detention
UN Human Rights - OPT
Patterns of detention, torture, and ill-treatment
The Occupied Palestinian Territory
At least 91 Palestinians died in Israeli custody since October 2023 with additional deaths confirmed by the Israeli Prison Service but without enough details to allow verification. Israeli authorities have refused to release most of the bodies to the families.
Survivors have spoken at length about routine physical assault, starvation, deprivation of medical care, near-complete isolation from the outside world, and sexual violence, including rape. The worst experiences have been recorded at Sde Teiman military camp, Ktzi'ot Prison (known as Negev prison), Megiddo, and Ofer.
Patterns of torture and ill-treatment suffered by Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody long predated October 2023 but have grown significantly worse since then.
In the same period, torture and ill-treatment have also been documented against Palestinian detainees by Palestinian security forces in the detention facilities of the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
On 7 October 2023, Palestinian armed groups took 251 Israeli and foreign hostages and held them in Gaza. Several hostages shared with media detailed accounts of torture and other ill-treatment, both at the time of their capture and during subsequent detention. Some released hostages reported experiencing or witnessing sexual violence, including at least three women hostages who have spoken publicly about directly experiencing sexual violence during captivity in Gaza. No hostages remain in Gaza today.
International humanitarian law requires parties to a conflict or an occupying power to treat humanely all detainees and to protect them against all acts or threats of violence and insults. Rape and other forms of sexual violence are prohibited under international humanitarian law, and amount to a war crime.
The prohibition of torture under international law is absolute and has no exceptions regardless of the identity of the victims or the perpetrators.
As of 1 July 2026, there were 9,299 Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention facilities, including 1,421 sentenced prisoners, 3,314 remanded, 3,244 Palestinians under administrative detention mostly without charge or trial, and 1,320 held as “unlawful combatants” which is also a form of administrative detention.
Dozens of accounts by released Palestinian detainees demonstrate that torture, ill-treatment, and extreme humiliation have become permanent fixtures of life in Israeli custody. The patterns described by Palestinian detainees have been consistent across different Israeli detention facilities, and regardless of the time of their detention or release indicating that the use of torture and ill-treatment is widespread and systematic.
Over the next few days, UN Human Rights - OPT will release documentation to reconstruct “a day in the life of a Palestinian in Israeli detention.”
A day in the life of a Palestinian in Israeli detention:
Arriving
Most released detainees describe arbitrary detention during raids or following encounters with Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank.
In Gaza, one released detainee said he was detained with others on the way to a militarized Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution site. Israeli soldiers forced the group, including two women, to strip naked and kneel with their heads to the ground for hours before releasing the women and arresting the men.
Other detainees from Gaza described being taken from hospitals, fishing boats, and roads. Many Palestinians detained in the West Bank described detention during Israeli raids on their villages and towns. A pattern of violent and degrading “field interrogations” has been consistently documented either at sites of detention in Gaza or in Palestinian homes seized by Israeli forces and converted to impromptu military outposts in the West Bank.
Former detainees also describe transfers to or between detention facilities as violent and degrading. One detainee said he was transferred to Sde Teiman with 70 to 80 others in one truck and that one man died on the way.
Another inmate who was initially held in Sde Teiman in late 2023 said leaving the camp also came with additional violence. On the day he was transferred to another facility, he was taken with others to an area where they were attacked with dogs before leaving the camp.
“The soldiers unleashed the dogs while we were handcuffed and blindfolded. When I heard the barking, I tried to step back, but I stumbled over another detainee who had already fallen down. When I tried to stand up again, two dogs attacked and pinned me to the ground. I felt the saliva all over my body,” he said.
One detainee described a “welcome procedure”: a severe beating that left him injured, having to urinate in front of Israeli guards after being denied bathroom access for hours, and being forced to undress and repeatedly squat naked as a form of “strip search”.
A former detainee who was held in Sde Teiman described a mandatory march between two rows of Israeli soldiers upon arriving at the military camp, with soldiers on both sides assaulting the arriving detainees.
A day in the life of a Palestinian in Israeli detention:
Arriving
Most released detainees describe arbitrary detention during raids or following encounters with Israeli forces in Gaza and the West Bank.
In Gaza, one released detainee said he was detained with others on the way to a militarized Gaza Humanitarian Foundation aid distribution site. Israeli soldiers forced the group, including two women, to strip naked and kneel with their heads to the ground for hours before releasing the women and arresting the men.
Other detainees from Gaza described being taken from hospitals, fishing boats, and roads. Many Palestinians detained in the West Bank described detention during Israeli raids on their villages and towns. A pattern of violent and degrading “field interrogations” has been consistently documented either at sites of detention in Gaza or in Palestinian homes seized by Israeli forces and converted to impromptu military outposts in the West Bank.
Former detainees also describe transfers to or between detention facilities as violent and degrading. One detainee said he was transferred to Sde Teiman with 70 to 80 others in one truck and that one man died on the way.
Another inmate who was initially held in Sde Teiman in late 2023 said leaving the camp also came with additional violence. On the day he was transferred to another facility, he was taken with others to an area where they were attacked with dogs before leaving the camp.
“The soldiers unleashed the dogs while we were handcuffed and blindfolded. When I heard the barking, I tried to step back, but I stumbled over another detainee who had already fallen down. When I tried to stand up again, two dogs attacked and pinned me to the ground. I felt the saliva all over my body,” he said.
One detainee described a “welcome procedure”: a severe beating that left him injured, having to urinate in front of Israeli guards after being denied bathroom access for hours, and being forced to undress and repeatedly squat naked as a form of “strip search”.
A former detainee who was held in Sde Teiman described a mandatory march between two rows of Israeli soldiers upon arriving at the military camp, with soldiers on both sides assaulting the arriving detainees.
A day in the life of a Palestinian in Israeli detention:
Mealtime
Detainees have consistently described starvation diets, with food quantities “not enough for a child”. Most lost significant weight while in detention; some lost half of their body weight. One detainee who lost more than 50 kgs in a year said the quantities were “clearly intended to barely keep us alive, but hungry.”
One of the 91 Palestinians who died in Israeli custody since 7 October 2023 was 17-year-old Walid Al Basha who died in Megiddo prison on 22 March 2025. In a rare occurrence, Israeli authorities carried out an autopsy. It showed that Al Basha, who was reportedly in good health when arrested in September 2024, displayed severe signs of starvation at the time of his death.
A detainee who was held in Sde Teiman said his servings consisted of three slices of bread with less than one spoon of jam for breakfast, three slices of bread with half a spoon of canned tuna for lunch, and three slices of bread with less than one spoon of jam for dinner.
He also said detainees were organized in rows of 25 to 30 people during the day — each row only allocated two bottles of water a day.
Another detainee released more recently described his diet throughout nearly a year of detention as “one spoon of yogurt, a quarter spoon of jam, and a very small piece of bread for breakfast, four spoons of rice, two small slices of cucumber, one spoon of white beans without broth, and a small piece of sweet pepper for lunch, and two spoons of hummus, one spoon of tahini, one boiled egg, and a small piece of bread for dinner.”
At the time of his release, he had lost half of his body weight.
A day in the life of a Palestinian in Israeli detention:
Mealtime
Detainees have consistently described starvation diets, with food quantities “not enough for a child”. Most lost significant weight while in detention; some lost half of their body weight. One detainee who lost more than 50 kgs in a year said the quantities were “clearly intended to barely keep us alive, but hungry.”
One of the 91 Palestinians who died in Israeli custody since 7 October 2023 was 17-year-old Walid Al Basha who died in Megiddo prison on 22 March 2025. In a rare occurrence, Israeli authorities carried out an autopsy. It showed that Al Basha, who was reportedly in good health when arrested in September 2024, displayed severe signs of starvation at the time of his death.
A detainee who was held in Sde Teiman said his servings consisted of three slices of bread with less than one spoon of jam for breakfast, three slices of bread with half a spoon of canned tuna for lunch, and three slices of bread with less than one spoon of jam for dinner.
He also said detainees were organized in rows of 25 to 30 people during the day — each row only allocated two bottles of water a day.
Another detainee released more recently described his diet throughout nearly a year of detention as “one spoon of yogurt, a quarter spoon of jam, and a very small piece of bread for breakfast, four spoons of rice, two small slices of cucumber, one spoon of white beans without broth, and a small piece of sweet pepper for lunch, and two spoons of hummus, one spoon of tahini, one boiled egg, and a small piece of bread for dinner.”
At the time of his release, he had lost half of his body weight.
A day in the life of a Palestinian in Israeli detention:
Showers, toilets, and hygiene
Palestinian detainees have faced severe restrictions on their access to bathrooms, showers, and hygiene products.
Bathroom accommodations varied depending on the detention facility. Detainees from Gaza held in military camps described having to share buckets as toilets. Others described cells with attached floor toilets rather than seated ones. Some described shared toilets for several group cells.
Several detainees from Gaza described being allowed in the bathroom for only two minutes a day. Others said they were repeatedly forced to use the bathroom with their hands shackled behind their backs. And some described being forced to urinate in front of Israeli soldiers.
Palestinian detainees have been consistently unable to maintain even a basic level of personal hygiene. Many released detainees from different detention facilities said they were allowed to shower once a week, for only a few minutes, with no privacy, and with little to no hygiene products.
“We were provided with one spoon of shampoo per detainee per week,” a former detainee said.
Several detainees said they were denied showers for much longer, especially earlier on in late 2023 and early 2024. One recalled that he and about 40 others were not given a change of clothes for seven months, during which they were also not allowed to shave, and did not have access to a shower or cleansing products. Instead, there were five water taps that detainees used for all purposes. Everyone developed scabies and rashes, he said.
“We became so dirty, and our clothes turned black. Many of us developed boils on our bodies,” he said.
Another detainee said they were only allowed to shower every 30 to 40 days in Sde Teiman.
Scabies, skin rashes, and boils remain widespread among Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention facilities.
“There are no combs, no shaving equipment, and no toothpaste,” said one recently released detainee. “There are no mirrors in prison. We are unable to see ourselves and recognize our physical condition except through other detainees’ observations.”
A day in the life of a Palestinian in Israeli detention:
Showers, toilets, and hygiene
Palestinian detainees have faced severe restrictions on their access to bathrooms, showers, and hygiene products.
Bathroom accommodations varied depending on the detention facility. Detainees from Gaza held in military camps described having to share buckets as toilets. Others described cells with attached floor toilets rather than seated ones. Some described shared toilets for several group cells.
Several detainees from Gaza described being allowed in the bathroom for only two minutes a day. Others said they were repeatedly forced to use the bathroom with their hands shackled behind their backs. And some described being forced to urinate in front of Israeli soldiers.
Palestinian detainees have been consistently unable to maintain even a basic level of personal hygiene. Many released detainees from different detention facilities said they were allowed to shower once a week, for only a few minutes, with no privacy, and with little to no hygiene products.
“We were provided with one spoon of shampoo per detainee per week,” a former detainee said.
Several detainees said they were denied showers for much longer, especially earlier on in late 2023 and early 2024. One recalled that he and about 40 others were not given a change of clothes for seven months, during which they were also not allowed to shave, and did not have access to a shower or cleansing products. Instead, there were five water taps that detainees used for all purposes. Everyone developed scabies and rashes, he said.
“We became so dirty, and our clothes turned black. Many of us developed boils on our bodies,” he said.
Another detainee said they were only allowed to shower every 30 to 40 days in Sde Teiman.
Scabies, skin rashes, and boils remain widespread among Palestinian detainees in Israeli detention facilities.
“There are no combs, no shaving equipment, and no toothpaste,” said one recently released detainee. “There are no mirrors in prison. We are unable to see ourselves and recognize our physical condition except through other detainees’ observations.”
A day in the life of a Palestinian in Israeli detention:
Bedtime
In addition to group cells in formal detention facilities, detainees described temporary holding spaces inside military camps such as tents, barracks made up of metal sheets, and the “Disco” in Sde Teiman.
According to multiple accounts, the “Disco” was a makeshift space in Sde Teiman in 2024 where detainees were taken to await interrogation, sometimes for days. Speakers played loud songs day and night without pause, making sleep impossible. Detainees described being forced to wait all day in painful stress positions such as kneeling with their faces to the ground.
Most detainees consistently described overcrowding and having to sleep on the floor, metal bed frames, or on thin, often foul-smelling mattresses and blankets. They also consistently described poor ventilation and extreme temperatures during both summer and winter. A recently released detainee said the lights stayed on, day and night, disrupting sleep and causing him constant tearing of his eyes.
Detainee accounts repeatedly described sleep deprivation as routine, not just in the “Disco”. One detainee said they were allowed to sleep only three hours from 2:00 to 5:00 in the morning and that guards “punished” anyone who slept outside these hours. Another who was detained in a military camp said his group was only allowed to sleep for four hours between midnight and 04:00, with frequent disruptions by soldiers loudly banging rods against the metal sheets of the barracks that housed him.
“If anyone made any infraction, such as laughing or sleeping when we were not allowed, we were punished,” one detainee recalled. “When this happened, soldiers forced the detainee to stretch his hand through a small opening in the cell door and repeatedly beat him on the fingers until the pain became unbearable.”
A day in the life of a Palestinian in Israeli detention:
Bedtime
In addition to group cells in formal detention facilities, detainees described temporary holding spaces inside military camps such as tents, barracks made up of metal sheets, and the “Disco” in Sde Teiman.
According to multiple accounts, the “Disco” was a makeshift space in Sde Teiman in 2024 where detainees were taken to await interrogation, sometimes for days. Speakers played loud songs day and night without pause, making sleep impossible. Detainees described being forced to wait all day in painful stress positions such as kneeling with their faces to the ground.
Most detainees consistently described overcrowding and having to sleep on the floor, metal bed frames, or on thin, often foul-smelling mattresses and blankets. They also consistently described poor ventilation and extreme temperatures during both summer and winter. A recently released detainee said the lights stayed on, day and night, disrupting sleep and causing him constant tearing of his eyes.
Detainee accounts repeatedly described sleep deprivation as routine, not just in the “Disco”. One detainee said they were allowed to sleep only three hours from 2:00 to 5:00 in the morning and that guards “punished” anyone who slept outside these hours. Another who was detained in a military camp said his group was only allowed to sleep for four hours between midnight and 04:00, with frequent disruptions by soldiers loudly banging rods against the metal sheets of the barracks that housed him.
“If anyone made any infraction, such as laughing or sleeping when we were not allowed, we were punished,” one detainee recalled. “When this happened, soldiers forced the detainee to stretch his hand through a small opening in the cell door and repeatedly beat him on the fingers until the pain became unbearable.”
Absences
Medical care, effective legal counsel, and contact with the outside world
Palestinian detainees constantly describe absences: absence of contact with the outside world, absence of meaningful legal counsel, and absence of medical care.
Most detainees said they were completely cut off from the outside world throughout their detention, regardless of the duration, with no visits from family, no phone calls, and severely limited access to legal counsel.
A Palestinian man detained in late 2023 said he only met with his lawyers four times during a year of detention. Another recently released detainee said he only met his lawyer five times during a year of detention. Both detainees and others said their meetings with their lawyers were monitored and restricted.
“We are completely isolated: no radios, no televisions. We receive news only from newly arrived detainees. Even during lawyer visits, lawyers are prohibited from informing us of any news,” one detainee said.
Israeli guards even prohibited detainees from talking to each other and violently punished detainees who did not comply, according to several accounts by detainees released from different detention facilities.
Hungry, injured, and isolated, detainees were also denied access to medical care, including in life-threatening emergencies.
A Palestinian detained in the immediate aftermath of October 2023 said he witnessed two deaths in the military camp where he was held, one from apparent pneumonia, and one after suffering severe abdominal pain and visible swelling.
Many former detainees reported not receiving their medications for chronic conditions. Some said their eyeglasses were taken away and not replaced. Several said their injuries and those of others from assault in detention went untreated.
At least one detainee who was held in Sde Teiman said he witnessed a man with an ankle injury from torture be taken for treatment and return with an amputation above the knee.
A recently released Palestinian said he witnessed the death of another detainee after suffering from severe abdominal pain all night. His cellmates pleaded with the guards to take him to a doctor, but they only acted when he lost consciousness in the morning. His death is confirmed and verified, and Israeli authorities continue to withhold his body.
A day in the life of a Palestinian in Israeli detention
Violence is the architecture of every day
Immense violence and deprivation are etched into every ordinary detail of life in Israeli custody: waking up, sleeping, eating, taking a shower, using a toilet. But violence also dominates Palestinian detainees’ lives beyond the mundane.
Sexual violence is widely documented in accounts from different detention facilities and across different periods since October 2023, including rape. Nearly all released Palestinians describe random strip searches involving acts of sexual humiliation and assault such as being forced to undress and squat repeatedly, kneel leaning forward with their heads to the ground while naked, guards touching genital areas, and constant sexual verbal insults and threats of rape.
UN Human Rights in the OPT has verified several incidents of rape against Palestinian men in Israeli detention facilities and a case of rape against a Palestinian boy.
In one incident, a released Palestinian said Israeli guards forced him and other detainees to strip naked, touch each other, and insert carrots into their own rectums.
Former Palestinian detainees consistently described brutal beatings, some causing permanent disability — during detention, upon arrival at detention facilities, during interrogations, as punishment for perceived non-compliance with guards’ orders, and during violent “raids” on cells.
Describing “raids”, detainees said they were repeatedly attacked in their cells using stunt grenades and rubber-coated bullets.
“We were counted three times a day: at 6:00, 11:00, and 18:00. During counts, we were forced to kneel with our hands behind our heads, leaning forward on the floor,” a recently released detainee said, “They would suddenly raid during the count and begin beating us, dragging us, restraining us, placing us in the shower room and subjecting us to strip searches, or stepping on our heads as we knelt.”
Violence is also meted out to “punish” any violation of guards’ orders, no matter how small. One detainee said he and others were punished if they fell asleep outside of the designated hours. Another said guards punished detainees in his cell if they sat in positions that the guards did not allow, or if they talked to each other.
“But we did. We talked. We whispered.”
A day in the life of a Palestinian in Israeli detention
Violence is the architecture of every day
Immense violence and deprivation are etched into every ordinary detail of life in Israeli custody: waking up, sleeping, eating, taking a shower, using a toilet. But violence also dominates Palestinian detainees’ lives beyond the mundane.
Sexual violence is widely documented in accounts from different detention facilities and across different periods since October 2023, including rape. Nearly all released Palestinians describe random strip searches involving acts of sexual humiliation and assault such as being forced to undress and squat repeatedly, kneel leaning forward with their heads to the ground while naked, guards touching genital areas, and constant sexual verbal insults and threats of rape.
UN Human Rights in the OPT has verified several incidents of rape against Palestinian men in Israeli detention facilities and a case of rape against a Palestinian boy.
In one incident, a released Palestinian said Israeli guards forced him and other detainees to strip naked, touch each other, and insert carrots into their own rectums.
Former Palestinian detainees consistently described brutal beatings, some causing permanent disability — during detention, upon arrival at detention facilities, during interrogations, as punishment for perceived non-compliance with guards’ orders, and during violent “raids” on cells.
Describing “raids”, detainees said they were repeatedly attacked in their cells using stunt grenades and rubber-coated bullets.
“We were counted three times a day: at 6:00, 11:00, and 18:00. During counts, we were forced to kneel with our hands behind our heads, leaning forward on the floor,” a recently released detainee said, “They would suddenly raid during the count and begin beating us, dragging us, restraining us, placing us in the shower room and subjecting us to strip searches, or stepping on our heads as we knelt.”
Violence is also meted out to “punish” any violation of guards’ orders, no matter how small. One detainee said he and others were punished if they fell asleep outside of the designated hours. Another said guards punished detainees in his cell if they sat in positions that the guards did not allow, or if they talked to each other.
“But we did. We talked. We whispered.”
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