Starvation Policy in Occupation Prisons: Shocking Testimonies Disregard Supreme Court Decision

Recent testimonies from released Palestinian prisoners have revealed the continued systematic starvation policy practiced by the Israeli occupation authorities inside prisons, despite five months having passed since the Israeli Supreme Court's decision acknowledging food shortages and ordering an improvement in the living conditions of detainees. Prisoners are released from detention centers suffering from severe emaciation and diseases resulting from malnutrition, reflecting a complete disregard for judicial decisions and humanitarian obligations.

Released prisoner Samer Khweira, a journalist from Nablus, recounted harsh details of his nine-month detention without clear charges. Khweira explained that daily meals in Megiddo and Nafha prisons did not exceed ten thin pieces of bread with very small quantities of hummus and tahini, while tuna was served only twice a week, which led to a rapid deterioration of his health.

Comparisons of Khweira's photos before and after his detention showed a loss of about 22 kilograms of his weight, as he emerged with an extremely thin body to the extent that his family members could not easily recognize him. The released prisoner also suffered from scabies sores and skin complications resulting from lack of hygiene and malnutrition, symptoms that have become common among most of those released recently.

Human rights sources reported that they reviewed dozens of testimonies from prisoners released during the past two months, where 27 prisoners unanimously stated that food quantities had not improved since the Supreme Court order. Human rights organizations accused the Israeli government of covering up this policy, which aims to deliberately abuse prisoners and break their morale and bodies.

Data indicates that conditions have severely worsened since National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir took charge of prisons, where he implemented retaliatory measures including closing bakeries that prisoners used to prepare their food. Ben-Gvir described demands for improved food as attempts to pamper those he called 'enemies of Israel,' considering lawsuits in this regard a kind of illusion.

In a related context, human rights organizations recorded the martyrdom of nearly 100 Palestinian prisoners inside prisons since October 2023, as a result of torture or deliberate medical neglect. Among the victims was Walid Ahmed, a young man who died in March 2025, after his health deteriorated and he lost consciousness due to a weakened immune system caused by severe malnutrition he suffered during his detention.

The lawyer for the martyred youth confirmed that the autopsy revealed a massive loss of muscle mass and fat, which made his body unable to resist any simple infection. These cases confirm what the director of the detainees department at Physicians for Human Rights stated, that chronic hunger has turned prisoners into easy prey for deadly diseases inside overcrowded cells.

Occupation authorities continue to prevent the International Committee of the Red Cross from visiting prisons and inspecting the conditions of detainees since the start of the war of annihilation on the Gaza Strip. This blackout contributes to the exacerbation of violations away from international oversight, leaving thousands of prisoners in direct confrontation with Ben-Gvir's punitive measures that lack the lowest international standards.

According to the latest statistics issued by the occupation prison administration, the number of Palestinian prisoners exceeded ten thousand detainees by the end of last September. This tragic list includes 350 children and 48 female prisoners, all living in harsh conditions lacking the minimum health and nutritional requirements, amidst escalating warnings of more deaths.

These figures do not include hundreds of detainees held by the occupation army in secret camps and army interrogation centers, including detainees of other Arab nationalities such as Lebanon and Syria. These camps, such as 'Sde Teiman,' remain hotbeds of serious violations that exceed what happens in official prisons, where there is no legal or humanitarian oversight.

The continuation of the starvation policy despite judicial decisions puts the international community to a real test to prosecute those responsible for these crimes. Human rights activists demand urgent international intervention to impose oversight on Israeli prisons and ensure the provision of food and treatment for prisoners, warning that silence on these practices gives the green light to the occupation to continue slowly liquidating prisoners.

The occupation practices a systematic starvation policy in prisons, and provisions have not changed since the Supreme Court order to improve them.