Gaza, 5 May 2025 – In late April 2025, an Al Mezan lawyer visited Al-Naqab Prison—a detention facility operated by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) and located in southern Israel—and documented the continued inhumane conditions faced by Palestinian detainees. Detainees are held in dilapidated tents, deprived of adequate food, and denied access to essential medical treatment or preventive care. Many detainees have reported extreme weight loss—some losing as much as 50 kilograms—due to deliberate starvation policies imposed by Israeli authorities. These conditions have also led to outbreaks of diseases among detainees, including scabies, a recurring issue previously documented by Al Mezan, highlighting the ongoing medical neglect, systematic abuse, and degrading treatment by the IPS.

Al Mezan’s lawyer reported that Israeli authorities are currently detaining approximately 2,400 individuals in Al-Naqab Prison, including around 600 Palestinians under the "Unlawful Combatant Law"—an apartheid law that allows for indefinite detention without charge or trial, stripping detainees of basic legal safeguards and violating international standards of due process. During the visit, our lawyer collected multiple testimonies from Palestinian detainees abducted by the Israeli forces during their ground invasion of Gaza since October 2023, which have been anonymized to protect their safety.

T.S., a 25-year-old nurse currently detained in Section 17, reported:

"On 16 February 2024, I was arrested by Israeli forces from Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis. They blindfolded me, assaulted me, and transferred me to unknown locations before bringing me to Al-Naqab Prison. My weight dropped from 76 kilograms before my arrest to 60 kilograms. During interrogation, I was asked to collaborate as an informant for the Israeli authorities, but I refused. I currently suffer from severe headaches and intense skin itching due to scabies. 99% of detainees in Section 17, where about 20 detainees are crammed into each of four tents, are infected with scabies. We have repeatedly requested treatment, but our pleas are ignored. Even the food provided is insufficient."

Another detainee, M. M., 40, also held in Section 17, testified:

"On 11 November 2023, Israeli forces arrested me from a shelter, severely beating me until I lost consciousness. I was then taken for interrogation, where loud music was played continuously before my transfer to Al-Naqab Prison. My weight has dropped dramatically from 110 kilograms to 55 kilograms. I suffer from severe bone pain and persistent skin itching. Like most detainees, I have received no proper medical care, and food remains extremely inadequate."

Additionally, lawyers continue to face severe and arbitrary restrictions on their right to visit clients. The prison administration permits lawyers to carry out only one or two visits per month, during which they are allowed to meet with no more than five detainees. These limited visits are frequently interrupted or canceled under the pretext of “emergency situations,” while the spread of skin diseases, such as scabies, has also been used as a justification to block lawyers’ visits.

Detention conditions at Al-Naqab Prison fall drastically short of minimum international standards, characterized by an inhumane environment marked by systemic abuse, including medical neglect and deliberate starvation. Detainees are deliberately and systematically subjected to degrading conditions, denied adequate nutrition, and left without essential medical care or preventive health measures. The testimonies collected by Al Mezan provide clear evidence of Israel’s ongoing brutal practices and grave violations of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, particularly the protections afforded to individuals deprived of their liberty. These include the obligation to ensure humane living conditions, access to regular medical examinations, necessary treatment, and proper nutrition. Moreover, the severe and arbitrary restrictions on legal visits constitute a direct violation of detainees’ right to legal counsel and fair legal proceedings.

While Al Mezan renews its call for urgent international action to end Israel’s ongoing genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, it also stresses that the plight of Palestinian detainees must not be forgotten. The systematic abuse, starvation, medical neglect, and inhumane detention conditions they endure form an integral part of Israel’s broader system of oppression. Al Mezan urges the International Criminal Court (ICC) to ensure that crimes against Palestinian detainees—including torture as a crime against humanity—are included in any future arrest warrants, as part of broader accountability for Israeli crimes committed against the Palestinian people.