'Systematic killing': 94 Palestinians murdered in Israeli dungeons by beatings, starvation, and neglect, report reveals
The victims of this wanton Israeli slaughter regime include people with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, dementia, and cancer.
Nearly 100 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli dungeons due to severe beatings, food deprivation, and medical neglect, a new report by Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHRI) has revealed. The report, which lists the killings of 94 Palestinians (68 from Gaza and 26 from the occupied West Bank), adds that its numbers are likely a significant undercount: “The fate of hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza detained by the Israeli military remains unknown to this day, suggesting that the true number of deaths is likely significantly higher than those documented here.”
Furthermore, “To this day, the fate and whereabouts of hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza who were taken by the Israeli military between October 2023 and April 2024 remains unknown.”
The report, which covers events only up to August 31, 2025, goes on to shed light on the absolute barbarism to which Palestinians from both the West Bank and Gaza have been subjected in the aftermath of October 7.
It describes the rounding up of random individuals, their transfer to dungeons, the torture they endured, and their “systematic killing.” It further documents Israeli authorities’ efforts to cover up these extrajudicial murders and their “suppression of investigations” into the causes of the abductees’ deaths.
While the focus has largely been on the Sde Teiman rape-and-torture dungeon in the Negev, the report reveals that the abuse and killings of Palestinians have become an institutionalised practice and is documented across all Israeli dungeons, whether they are operated by the genocidal Israel Prison Service (IPS) or the genocidal Israeli military.
Enforced disappearances
In complete contravention of international conventions, “Israeli authorities informed the ICRC [International Committer of the Red Cross] that they would no longer provide information on Palestinians in custody and simultaneously barred all access to detention facilities, in direct breach of both international and domestic law” in the aftermath of October 7.
The earlier channels through which Palestinians could seek information about their abducted loved ones were upended for the Gaza abductees. The Israeli Supreme Court repeatedly dismissed petitions of the Palestinians with missing family members seeking information about their loved ones, thereby applying a legal stamp to the savage practice. To add insult to the injury, the occupation’s kangaroo court even imposed costs on the petitioners for exercising their human right.
The Israeli state has instituted a Kafkaesque process for families seeking information about their relatives. One such method is directing every query to an email address.
“After the State Attorney’s Office shared the email address in its response to the Court, lawyers seeking to coordinate visits with detained persons encountered numerous obstacles and rights violations,” the report says. “When visits were scheduled, they were often set for dates months in advance. More commonly, however, the response provided to lawyers was, ‘There is no indication of the individual’s arrest or detention.’ Such replies were issued even in cases where clear evidence existed that the individual was in custody.”
The PHRI report states that the same response was provided to a request regarding the whereabouts of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who was abducted by the Israeli military from Kamal Adwan Hospital late last year.
In a widely circulated image, Dr. Abu Safiya was last seen entering an Israeli tank.
“Only after several days and following intense media scrutiny did the military acknowledge that it was indeed holding Dr. Abu Safiya in custody,” the report added.
While Dr. Abu Safiya continues to suffer inhumane abuse in Israeli dungeons, his family can take solace in the fact that he remains alive.
Others who have been forcibly disappeared have not been so lucky.
The report highlights the case of Mounir and Alfaqawi Yassin, a father-son duo aged 41 and 18, who were taken away from their Khan Yunis home in March 2024. The Israelis abducting them told their family, “There is no point in asking where they are being taken.” Requests from the family enquiring about their whereabouts resulted in evasive answers. In October 2024, seven months after their disappearance, a petition to the High Court revealed that both were killed in military custody.
A third person taken away with the father and son from Khan Yunis reported that all three were used as human shields by the Israelis.
Systematic killings
As I have reported in these pages, the entire Israelis society, with all its state and non-state institutions, is racist and genocidal towards the Palestinians. While Israeli military personnel have attracted global attention for their penchant for wanton slaughter and perverse predilection for sharing their war crimes on TikTok, the Israeli police have been no less murderous.
Of the 94 murdered Palestinians in Israeli captivity, 52 (all of them from Gaza) were killed in military custody, while 42 (comprising Palestinians from the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, and Palestinians who held Israeli citizenship) were butchered in police custody.
“[S]ince late 2022, with the formation of the current Israeli government, Itamar Ben-Gvir, appointed as Minister of National Security and responsible for incarceration policy, took steps to deliberately worsen the conditions of Palestinians in Israeli prisons,” the report says. “His policies reflected an ideological approach that instrumentalized detention conditions as a form of additional punishment beyond the deprivation of liberty.”
The corroborating evidence for this has been repeatedly provided by Ben-Gvir himself. He has openly boasted of making life miserable for the Palestinian detainees, including taking away the few privileges they had, such as visits by lawyers and family members, and access to medical care in case of injuries sustained after beatings by prison guards.
“After October 2023, under Ben-Gvir’s directives and with the cooperation of senior IPS officials, incarceration facilities holding Palestinians were effectively transformed into sites of torture and abuse, where fundamental human rights were routinely denied,” the report affirms.
Ben-Gvir’s policies have directly contributed to the murder of Palestinians: “This policy of rights deprivation and systematic torture has resulted in the deaths of dozens of Palestinians in IPS custody over the past two years.”
It is entirely on brand for a Jewish supremacist like Ben-Gvir, who idolises Baruch Goldstein, the terrorist who gunned down 29 Palestinian men and children during morning prayer in Hebron during Ramadan in 1994.
The report noted that the “number of deaths [have kept] steadily increasing over time.” Moreover: “Occurrence of deaths across nearly all IPS facilities, where Palestinians are held further underscores the systematic and ongoing nature of these killings in Israeli custody.”
The report notes that denial of medical care after severe torture was the main cause of death in these dungeons: “A review of the information that were published about the ten post-mortem examinations of Palestinians who died in custody revealed deeply concerning patterns of physical violence and medical neglect.”
It details the abuse: “Findings included multiple rib fractures, hemorrhages on the skin and near internal organs, and lacerations of intra-abdominal organs. In another case, an intracranial hemorrhage resulting from a head injury, apparently sustained during arrest, was documented. In several instances, physical violence combined with serious pre-existing conditions contributed jointly to fatal outcomes.”
This same pattern of horrific physical torture — and subsequent organ theft from the dead bodies — has been evident in the bodies that the Israelis have been sending into Gaza, beginning last month.
The notorious Sde Teiman dungeon was the main site of inhumane abuse against the Palestinians. The report has identified 29 murders at the facility.
Nevertheless, the report highlights that despite the coverage of the abuses against Palestinians at Sde Teiman in the media, killings at the facility have persisted: “The high number of deaths at Sde Teiman, which during this period served as the central military detention center, supports findings by several human rights organizations that the facility effectively functioned as a site of torture, and as can be inferred from PHRI’s data, a place where the deaths of detained Palestinians became a routine occurrence. Moreover, data collected by PHRI since June 2024 indicates that even after the grave conditions at Sde Teiman were publicly exposed, deaths in military custody persisted.”
Hiding the bodies and bargaining chips
While Palestinian families have been denied information about their abducted loved ones, they have also been deprived of any notification when those relatives have been murdered by the Israeli barbarians.
“In numerous cases, the families of the deceased were therefore never notified of the deaths of their relatives and therefore were unable to request an investigation or post-mortem examination,” the report says.
In many instances, families learned about the deaths of their loved ones through media reports since “death notifications are not transmitted to the ICRC immediately after death, as the organization remains barred from visiting detained Palestinians.” It is due to this inhumane policy that “the identities of at least 18 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip who died in Israeli custody remain unknown.”
We are watching the consequences of this practice currently unfold in Gaza.
Of the 330 bodies that the Israelis have sent into Gaza, over 200 have had to be buried unidentified. Despite knowing the identities of the dead, the Israelis do not reveal them, adding to the suffering of Palestinians with missing family members.
Even in the cases where victims have been identified and autopsies performed by Israeli authorities, they have refused to release the bodies, intending to use them as bargaining chips.
“A 2017 Israeli cabinet decision authorized the retention of the bodies of Palestinians who died in custody as potential bargaining chips in future prisoner exchanges, subject to specific criteria,” the report adds. “Since October 2023, these criteria have been expanded, enabling Israel to withhold the bodies of Palestinians who would not have met the earlier conditions.”
Disturbingly, the report concludes that “the killing of Palestinians in custody has become a normalized practice, directly derived from official state policy.”
The victims
In addition to the report, PHRI has published a document with testimonies from cellmates and other witnesses to the murders of the Palestinians in the Israeli dungeons.
It makes for harrowing reading. The victims of this wanton Israeli slaughter regime include people with pre-existing conditions such as diabetes, dementia, and cancer. The poor mental state of many detainees meant that they did not even know what was happening to them while they were being bludgeoned to death.
The youngest victim, Walid Khaled Abdullah Ahmad, was just 17 and a fit athlete before the Israelis starved him to death. Abd al-Rahman al-Mar’i was murdered for objecting to the insults directed at his late father by the Israeli prison guards. Acclaimed writer and thinker, Walid Daqqa, was denied treatment for cancer before he breathed his last in a cell at the age of 62.
Here is a small selection of the testimonies published by PHRI:
Abd al-Rahman al-Mar’i (33)
Al-Mar’i was detained from Qarawat Bani Hassan in the northern West Bank in February 2023 and died in the Megiddo dungeon on November 13, 2023. “According to a preliminary report by a physician who attended the post-mortem examination on behalf of the family, signs of trauma were found on Mar’i’s chest, including broken ribs and a fractured sternum, which were the likely cause of death,” the report says.
Al-Mar’i was murdered by the Israelis for defending the honour of his late father.
A fellow Palestinian detainee who shared a cell with Mar’i and spoke with PHRI after his release recounted witnessing Mar’i being beaten a few days before his death: “They taunted Mar’i and cursed his late father, who had recently passed away. He began shouting, and then about 15 IPS guards surrounded him and beat him brutally. The assault lasted around five minutes, mainly focusing on his head. Afterward, they took him away, and we never saw him again.” About a week later, the witness said, the other detained Palestinians learned that Mar’i had died.
Arafat Hamdan (25)
Arafat, a type 1 diabetic who required regular insulin injections, was beaten in front of his family members before he was taken away by the Israelis on October 22, 2023. He was initially taken to the Etzion military camp before being transferred to Ofer Prison, where he died after being denied medical care.
A fellow detainee recounted Arafat’s excruciating ordeal before his death:
According to a Palestinian detainee, G.P., Israeli forces beat him and his fellow detainee Hamdan at the Etzion military camp. They reportedly denied him access to his medication, placed a bag over his head, and kept him exposed to the sun for several hours. In addition, G.P. testified that on the evening of October 23, 2023, prison guards brought two newly arrested Palestinians, one of whom was Hamdan, into their cell. G.P. recalled that Hamdan appeared to lay on a mattress on the floor. Cellmates noticed that his condition deteriorated rapidly, as he was hungry but unable to swallow after attempting to eat a few spoonfuls and began vomiting and choking. G.P. stated that Hamdan suffered from Type 1 diabetes, appeared to be having a diabetic crisis, and urgently needed hospitalization. Despite repeated calls from his cellmates for medical help, the guards ignored their pleas, even after Hamdan lost consciousness. Only after persistent demands did the guards take Hamdan to the prison clinic, returning him an hour later in a weakened state and barely able to stand. When his breathing worsened again, his cellmates called for medical assistance once more, but a medic allegedly responded that he should be called only “after Hamdan died.” About an hour and a half later, Hamdan’s breathing eventually slowed. Cellmates noticed fluid coming from his mouth. One checked his pulse and shouted that Hamdan was dead. They banged on the door and called for help until an officer and about ten guards arrived and removed Hamdan’s body from the cell.
Dr. Adnan al-Bursh (53)
Dr. al-Bursh, the head of the orthopaedic department at Al-Shifa Hospital and a beloved figure in Gaza’s medical community, was tortured and raped to death.
From the report:
Testimony from another Palestinian detainee, held in the same wing where Dr. al-Bursh collapsed and died (as first reported by Sky News), described that guards brought him to the prison wing earlier that day, showing clear signs of physical abuse. The witness said: “They threw him in the middle of the yard, and he couldn’t stand. One of the detainees helped him into his cell, but a few minutes later, we heard him shouting that Dr. al-Bursh was dead.”
The Israelis continue to withhold Dr. al-Bursh’s body to this day, denying him a dignified burial and his family closure.
Walid Khaled Abdullah Ahmad (17)
A teenager, Walid died within six months of incarceration at the Megiddo dungeon after his abduction on September 30, 2024. The Israelis starved him to death:
The physician representing Ahmad’s family reported that several possible causes of death were identified, including starvation as the primary one (either directly or indirectly). The post-mortem findings indicated that Walid suffered from severe and prolonged malnutrition, inflammation of a section of the colon, and the presence of a large mass in the abdomen, likely originating from the colon.
Thaer Abu Asab (38)
The circumstances of Abu Asab’s death make for a horror story.
Israeli prison guards beat him repeatedly, landing blows all over Abu Asab’s body, including his head. They left him bleeding on the floor and locked his cell on the way out. As Abu Asab lay dying, for about an hour his cellmates shouted for help, without response. By the time their shouts were answered, it was too late.
A Palestinian detainee, A.M., who shared a cell with Abu Asab, stated that on the day of the incident, after roll call ended, a guard repeatedly called Abu Asab’s name, to which he responded. Suddenly, special forces stormed the cell and began beating the detainees with batons. Each guard reportedly seized and assaulted a detainee. About seven minutes after the guards left, only for another group of guards, about eight guards, to return and resume the beating, targeting Abu Asab most severely. According to A.M., Abu Asab tried to shield his head with his hands but had to yield due to the repeated blows. The guards continued hitting him on the head and body until he collapsed to the floor, then exited the cell and locked the door behind them. His cellmates repeatedly called out Abu Asab’s name, but he did not respond. Blood was flowing from his head, and his skin began to darken. For about an hour, they shouted and called for help, but the guards ignored them. Eventually, a guard who was also a medic arrived and asked A.M. to lift Abu Asab’s shirt. A.M. saw that his abdomen was swollen and dark in color. When officers arrived, they ordered the remaining seven detainees into a small corner inside the bathroom and confined them there before taking Abu Asab away. Five minutes later, a guard returned, opened the bathroom door, and informed them that he had died.
Kamal Radi
Radi, who was detained at the Sde Teiman dungeon after his abduction from the Gaza Strip, was also humiliated and beaten to death.
Dr. A.M. stated: “Radi was held at Sde Teiman along with his son. I did not witness the incident myself, but I heard about it from other detainees. Kamal was in the B1 detention area, while I was in B2. According to what others told me, soldiers constantly humiliated him, and he became very depressed. One day in March 2024, soldiers entered with dogs, beat him severely, including blows to the head, and he died on the spot, apparently from cardiac arrest.” Dr. H.S.B., who was also held at Sde Teiman earlier in his custody, said: “There was a detainee from the Radi family who was martyred; he died from the beatings he received in the detention facility.”
Assel al-Rifai (22)
Just 22, al-Rifai was a cancer patient who was denied treatment and food, leading to his death.
Before his detention, al-Rifai had chemotherapy at Augusta Victoria Hospital in Jerusalem, but treatment was interrupted for three months after he was denied an entry permit to the city. His arrest caused further delays. It was only after PHRI intervened that he was able to undergo imaging tests and resume treatment following an interruption of about six months. After a year and a half in prison, it seemed that his time was limited. In the months leading up to his death, al-Rifai told visiting lawyers that he was constantly hungry after the IPS reduced both the quantity and quality of food provided to Palestinian detainees. Repeated appeals to the IPS regarding his condition by PHRI were unsuccessful. Al-Rifai died on February 29, 2024, at Shamir Medical Center from cancer. His parents were unable to see him before his death due to the ongoing ban on family visits for Palestinians in IPS custody since the start of the war.
Walid Daqqa, (62)
Daqqa was among the iconic Palestinian prisoners. A writer and thinker, he was denied an opportunity to see his wife and daughter, Milad — who was born after his sperm was smuggled out of his prison cell — even after it became clear that his death was imminent due to terminal cancer.
His wife was not even notified after his passing in April last year.
Walid Daqqa, 62, from Baqa al-Gharbiyye and a Palestinian citizen of Israel, was arrested in 1986 and was among the longest-held Palestinians in Israeli custody. He suffered from a complex and terminal form of cancer. According to an assessment by PHRI volunteer physicians who reviewed his medical file before his death, there were major discrepancies between the medications prescribed to him upon discharge from hospitals and those recorded in his file. The physicians found that he was denied certain medications for non-medical reasons, that signs of heart failure were not identified or treated in a timely manner, and that the IPS failed to refer him for advanced diagnostic tests, such as an MRI, despite clear medical recommendations. Despite his critical condition, Daqqa’s request for early release on humanitarian grounds, so he could spend his final days with his family, was denied by the Israeli Supreme Court in October 2023. The IPS also refused to allow a physician sent by his family to visit him, and a request for his wife to see him was rejected just days before his death, despite his worsening health. Daqqa was transferred to Shamir Medical Center on April 7, 2024, where he was pronounced dead. His family learned of his passing through Israeli media reports, without receiving any official notification from the IPS.
Conclusion
Taken together, the PHRI findings lay bare a coherent system of domination in which the disappearance, torture, and murder of Palestinians have been made routine. The testimonies, medical reports, and the state’s own refusals to disclose information point to a machinery of cruelty that functions only because every arm of the Israeli state — its military, police, courts, and political leadership — has deemed it kosher.
What emerges is a portrait of a carceral regime in which Palestinians are stripped not only of due process and medical care, but also of the most basic recognition of their humanity.
With hundreds still missing and the bodies of many murdered detainees withheld, any attempt to quantify the full scope of these violations remains incomplete. What is already known points to a systematic pattern of abuse and deliberate murder in custody that is far larger than the officially acknowledged cases.
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If you are privy to this information, then every single world leader is as well. Yet they do nothing, or worse, help perpetrate it.
Humanity has disappeared from the face of the earth and convinced me that “humans” in their entirety need to go. Except perhaps for Palestinians and Yemenis.
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