In Israel's prisons, torture and death have become a norm that it barely tries to hide

[Celerity]

The suffering of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya is no isolated case. The abuse of Palestinian detainees is happening in plain sight, yet nothing changes

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2026/jul/13/israel-prison-torture-death-hussam-abu-safiya-palestine



“This is the end. I don’t see myself surviving. They brought me here to kill me.” These were the words of Dr Hussam Abu Safiya to his lawyer earlier this month. Abu Safiya was the director of the Kamal Adwan hospital in northern Gaza. Eighteen months ago he was seized by Israeli forces and has since been held without charge or trial. He reports being struck with hammers and batons, daily beatings and loss of consciousness. The latest images of him show a much gaunter man than the one who had been the voice of besieged healthcare workers in Gaza, doing their jobs in impossible circumstances.

In June, Abu Safiya was transferred to Rakefet prison, an underground facility first built to hold senior organised crime figures, then closed on the grounds that it was inhumane. It was reopened in late 2023 by the far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Abu Safiya and the other Palestinian prisoners there never see daylight, a violation of the Geneva conventions. Across the Palestinian territories and Israel, about 3,500 prisoners like him are held under “administrative detention” that can be renewed every six months, indefinitely. Nearly 200 of them are children. Once a Palestinian is detained under these rules, they are essentially abducted by the state.

“Real hell” is what is experienced once detained. Ali al-Samoudi, a Palestinian journalist, was released earlier this year, unrecognisable. He had lost 60kg, about half of his body weight. “Prison today is hell in every sense of the word,” he told CNN. “Everything they practised with us was punishment and revenge.” The scale of abuse, torture and death in Israeli prisons is well documented, but every once in a while an image appears that is Abu Ghraib-like in its relish and abandon. Earlier this month, a photo taken by an Israeli soldier was posted on social media. It shows a Palestinian man from Gaza face down, stripped to his underwear, bound with ropes to a plank and an iron rod. The caption said “good morning” in Hebrew. The echoes of Abu Ghraib were all there, the sinister gloating, the sexualised humiliation of stripped prisoners, the taking of photos as some sort of trophy.



These are not isolated incidents, or even measures established during the current conflict, although they have accelerated during it. The administrative detentions and abuse are part of a wider longstanding system that has severed Palestinians from human rights, and appears to be designed to terrorise, break morale and collectively punish. For decades, the Israeli state has practised a policy of keeping the bodies of Palestinians, refusing to hand them over to their families for burial. Some bodies are buried in numbered graves in sealed military zones, others are held in freezers. Among those are 100 Palestinians who died in Israeli custody. No information has been provided about how they died.

snip

[3_Limes]

1. Can we stop paying for this now?

"Never again" my ass!! The hypocrisy is enraging.

[ColoringFool]

2. And the country that perpetrated Abu Ghraib was.....?

Yes, I'm being sardonic.

[Martin Eden]

3. Can Israel's defenders make the case that this is justifiable self defense?

If the vengeful God of the Old Testament is real, holy wrath will ultimately strike them.

[Lonestarblue]

4. What Israel has become is a perfect example of right-wing MAGA style government.

Sane voices have been silenced and the attitude seems to be that their goals of eliminating all Palestinians and stealing their lands justify any means used to accomplish those goals, including genocide and daily murders by settlers and the IDF.

We in the US are also seeing the results of having a right-wing cult in charge of the government, a cult that is turning the US into a rogue government that freely murders people in small boats in international waters, launches unprovoked wars on other countries, threatens to take over other countries to take their natural resources, violates human rights, allows federal agents to execute citizens, and attempts to deny certain citizens' voting rights to manipulate elections.

[malaise]

5. And yet the world remains silent as Bibi talks about

a country governed by laws.

[littlemissmartypants]

6. He graduated from the DJT School of Misinformation.

Lies. Lies and more lies.

[oasis]

7. Sickening beyond belief. The "leaders" responsible

for this cruelty must be exposed and brought to justice.