'All we prayed for was to come out alive' - life inside an Israeli prison

Ramallah, occupied West Bank - Moussa Asi, 58, was forced to strip naked eight times during his four months in Israeli prisons.

He was made to do so not only in front of Israeli prison guards, but in front of dozens of his fellow inmates as well.

"They would make us stand naked in front of each other in groups. They would beat us while we were naked and sexually assault us with sticks between our legs while mocking us, swearing at us and filming us," Asi told TRT World, noting that there were several cases of rape among the detainees.

"It was mentally very difficult," the father of six, who was held at the Naqab prison in the Negev desert, said.

Asi is no stranger to Israeli prisons. Prior to his most recent arrest, during which he was held without trial or charge, he was jailed seven times by Israel. But he said what he experienced in detention after October 7 was like nothing before.

"This arrest was the worst and most difficult since 1987, when I was first detained," he said.

By the time he was released in February 2024, Asi had lost 27 kilograms and needed several surgeries.

Severe prison torture

Evidence of severe torture and mistreatment of thousands of Palestinian political prisoners by Israel, particularly after October 7, has been mounting, with rights groups warning of war crimes and major human rights violations.

On August 3, hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in city centres across the occupied West Bank to protest the inhumane conditions for prisoners amid the ongoing Israeli war on Gaza.

Less than a week ago, reports emerged that a Palestinian male prisoner from Gaza had been gang-raped by a group of soldiers at the Sde Teiman military camp in the country's Naqab desert, before he was hospitalised, unable to walk.

Alongside dozens of testimonies from freed prisoners and lawyers, a new United Nations report released earlier this month detailed a range of horrific torture methods, including: electric shocks to the body, even on the genitals; waterboarding; forcing detainees to defecate in diapers; burning them with cigarettes; giving them hallucinogenic pills; sexual assault and severe beatings; along with depriving them of food, water and medical care.

A number of female and male detainees were also raped, including with sharp objects and even fire extinguishers. Other reports from Israeli whistleblowers working at military camps said some detainees had to have their arms and legs amputated due to prolonged shackling.

Since October 7, at least 58 Palestinian prisoners have died or were killed in Israeli custody. This includes people who were beaten to death, while others died from torture methods or from the denial of urgent medical care.

While at least 38 of the deceased held at the military prisons including Sdei Teiman and Anatot, were mostly from Gaza, those that died in Israel’s formal prisons were mainly from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.

‘Death squads'

Asi, who was tortured at the Naqab prison, hails from the village of Beit Liqya south of Ramallah. He told TRT World it was the three-times-a-day head count that he feared the most.

"Every time they would come in to count us, all we cared about was, all we prayed for was to come out of it alive," he said. "You know when they come inside, there will be death."

About 20 to 25 guards armed to the teeth would raid their small, overcrowded cell, he recalled, and force them to kneel on the ground, with their hands tied back.

"They would beat us with their weapons and unleash their dogs on us, and they would leave us on the ground like that for hours. We would refer to them as death squads."

On one occasion, Asi said he and other inmates witnessed a soldier cutting a prisoner's throat using a knife. “We were afraid and horrified. We felt that they wanted to kill us,” he recalled, noting that that was the first time he ever saw a prison guard attack a Palestinian detainee in that way.

The headcounts were not the only times that Asi was beaten. Soldiers would attack him and other inmates every time they were moved from one facility to another, or whenever they had a military court hearing and had to be transferred in a prison military vehicle known in Arabic as the "bosta."

"When they moved us from Ofer prison to Nafha prison, it was a massacre inside the bosta. The soldiers were beating us while their dogs were attacking and slicing peoples' faces with their claws, he recalled.

The severe decline in the already-difficult conditions for Palestinian political prisoners came following a blitz against Israel on October 7 by the Gaza-based Hamas-led resistance groups.

Held without charge

Since then, Israel has carried out what has globally been described as a genocide in Gaza, killing nearly 50,000 Palestinians – the majority of them women and children – despite widespread international calls for a ceasefire.

Alongside over 300 days of non-stop bombardment of Gaza, Israeli forces have carried out close to 10,000 arrests of Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem alone, with some 9,900 people currently held behind bars.

Thousands of other detainees from Gaza are also being held in military bases and camps, with the Israeli army refusing to provide any details on them.

Among the 9,900 prisoners, some 3,380 of them are being held without any trial or charges, alongside 250 children and 88 women.

In addition to the severe overcrowding inside the prisons, detainees in the Naqab prison were forbidden from any yard-time outside, leaving them inside their small cells 24 hours a day. Under Israeli military law there are no regulations to prevent this inhumanity.

"I did not spend a single minute outside during the entire four months, and we were only allowed out to shower every 15 to 20 days," Asi said.

Upon his release, Asi required heart surgery due to the problems he developed during winter, where detainees were left without adequate clothes or any heating. He said he also now suffers from fluid retention in his knees from being forced to remain on the ground for long hours and is set to have surgery to reduce the swelling, in the coming weeks.

'Not treated as humans'

Women prisoners haven't fared much better. Fadia Barghouti, 51, was arrested for the first time by Israeli soldiers from her home in the village of Deir Ghassaneh west of Ramallah city on February 22 and was held without charge or trial for three months.

She told TRT World that she was blindfolded and beaten by soldiers after she was forced into the bosta (prison transfer vehicle), leaving her bruised and in pain.

"As soon as you are arrested, you are completely stripped of all your rights. Once they detain you, they don't treat you as a human being. The beatings, the insults and humiliation, the strip searches," Barghouti said.

"Not to mention, once in prison, you are completely isolated from the world. There is little to no access to a lawyer. No family visitations, no radio, no TV," she continued, adding that the prisoners would get one hour of yard time a day at Israel's Damon prison where she was held.

During her three months behind bars, Barghouti said she lost 10 kilograms due to the denial of adequate amounts of food. She and her fellow female inmates were forced to ration their food, which mostly consisted of rice, beans and other legumes.

"They would give you the bare minimum to keep you alive," Barghouti, who was released on May 21, explained.

Prisoners are also unable to bring in extra clothes, and all prison canteens, which are essential for basic supplies and food, have been shut down since October 7. They have also been denied access to clean drinking water and adequate amounts of sanitary pads.

Urgent investigation

Amid the harsh conditions for male and female prisoners, local and international rights groups have been urgently calling for independent investigations of Israeli torture and mistreatment of Palestinian detainees.

In its report, the UN said the actions being taken against prisoners "appear to constitute a collectively punitive measure against Palestinians."

Asi, the freed prisoner, agrees. "Everything they (Israel) are doing is about pure revenge," he said.

"The prisoners are slowly dying. They have only God at this point."