Audit finds Palestinian prisoners suffering severe hunger in Israeli jails

An Israeli audit has revealed that Palestinian prisoners are being held in increasingly harsh conditions, with many suffering from severe hunger and significant weight loss, according to a report issued by the Public Defender’s Office.

The Times of Israel reported on Sunday that the audit, based on visits by representatives of the office, documented widespread malnutrition among detainees, noting that inspectors observed prisoners who appeared “extremely thin, in some cases to an extreme degree”.

According to the report, detention conditions have deteriorated markedly since the start of the Israeli genocide in the Gaza Strip on 7 October 2023, alongside a surge in the number of arrests. Prisoners reportedly receive minimal food rations, are subjected to frequent beatings by guards, and are held in overcrowded and unsanitary cells where disease spreads easily.

Inspectors from the Public Defender’s Office visited 43 detention sites in 2023 and 2024, including 27 Israel Prison Service facilities, 12 police station lockups, and four courthouse holding cells. Human rights organisations inside and outside Israel have long warned of worsening conditions, but the audit represents a rare acknowledgement by an official Israeli institution of the scale of deterioration.

Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who oversees the prison system, has openly celebrated the tightening of conditions. In remarks to a Knesset committee last October, he said he was “proud that the prisons have turned into a nightmare for Palestinian prisoners”.