Israeli reports reveal deprivation of Palestinian prisoners from water as "collective punishment" during the war on Gaza

The documents were based on 3 field visits conducted by representatives of the military prosecution to the "Ktzi'ot" prison.

Official reports prepared by the military prosecution of the Israeli occupation revealed serious violations against Palestinian prisoners, consisting of depriving them of regular access to drinking water for long hours, described by the reports as "collective punishment" imposed during the war period.

The Ministry of Justice of the Israeli occupation handed over six reports to the Association for Civil Rights, after a judicial petition forced the state to publish them after it had refrained from doing so under the pretext of protecting "national security".

These documents were based on three field visits conducted by representatives of the military prosecution to the "Ktzi'ot" prison in the Negev during the months of May, June, and September 2024.

One of the reports confirmed that the results of the first two visits showed the imposition of a policy that prevents providing continuous drinking water during part of the day.

The prosecution conveyed from the prisoners' testimonies that the water ban was sometimes implemented as part of collective punishment, and in other sections it was adopted as a fixed measure for about half of the day's hours, despite the reduction of this policy before the September visit.

In contrast, the Israeli Prison Service denied these allegations in an official statement, claiming that the apparatus operates according to the law and provides basic needs for all detainees.

However, this information comes in the context of a broad tightening of detention conditions since October 7, 2023, where previous reports acknowledged cases of severe hunger leading to significant weight loss and fainting among prisoners, in addition to suffocating overcrowding where 90% of prisoners are held in spaces less than 3 square meters, with thousands deprived of beds and increasing complaints of violence.

On a related level, Palestinian human rights institutions monitored a dangerous escalation in violations during 2025, recording nearly 7,000 arrest cases, and the killing of 32 Palestinian prisoners inside prisons in the same year.

The institutions indicated that the total number of martyrs of the prisoner movement since the start of the war reached 100 prisoners, most of whom died as a result of systematic torture and medical neglect, despite the decision of the Israeli High Court in September last year that obligated the state to correct living conditions, which has not been achieved on the ground according to subsequent reports.