Palestinian prisoners’ lives are at risk on a daily basis inside the occupation prisons. Over the past 18 months, alongside the escalated genocide against the Palestinian people in Gaza, the Zionist occupation regime — in full complicity with the United States and European imperialist powers — has also been carrying out a systematic attack on the Palestinian prisoners, using torture, starvation and medical abuse and neglect in a policy of “slow assassination.”
On 30 April, Palestinian prisoners’ associations appealed to the World Health Organization, noting:
“the outbreak of a number of diseases including scabies skin disease and amoebic infections, chronic diarrhea, continuous vomiting, in addition to other serious skin diseases. Child detainees are also exhibiting symptoms of undiagnosed and untreated dermatological illnesses.
All detainees are being denied their right to medical care, and the prison administration refuses to treat the root cause of these illnesses, which is the inhumane and unhygienic detention conditions inside the prisons.”
Since 7 October 2023, amid Al-Aqsa Flood and the ongoing Zionist-imperialist genocide in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine, at least 65 identified Palestinian prisoners have been martyred inside the Zionist jails; the occupation is continuing to detain 63 of their bodies (amid 74 Palestinian prisoners’ bodies and nearly 700 Palestinian martyrs’ bodies in total held in the morgues and numbers cemeteries of the occupation.) Over 40 of these martyrs are from Gaza, and the full list of names of imprisoned martyrs from Gaza has not been released; they include Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, Dr. Iyad al-Rantisi, and many other Palestinians tortured to death through violent beatings, rape and sexual assault.
Days before, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said that “Israeli occupation prison authorities are deliberately transferring sick Palestinian political detainees between different prisons and cells in order to spread infectious diseases among the prison population,” noting that the occupation had been transferring ill prisoners with contagious diseases from Megiddo prison to the Naqab desert prison with no medical treatment or care. “As a result, prisoners in Naqab prison were infected and began exhibiting symptoms such as severe abdominal pain, persistent vomiting, extreme fatigue, in addition to contracting scabies — all of which poses a severe and escalating danger to their lives.”
The occupation is pursuing a systematic policy of denial of medical care or treatment, prohibition of hygiene items and cleaning supplies, overcrowding and starvation, in addition to the ongoing and escalating policy of systematic torture, beating and physical, psychological and sexual abuse. Palestinian prisoner leaders like Abdullah Barghouti are being subjected to ongoing beating and torture and then denied medical care for their wounds, reflecting a policy of “slow assassination” against the prisoners’ movement. A number of Palestinian prisoners are being subjected to campaigns of medical negligence, mistreatment and abuse, including:
Mohammed al-Natsheh
Sheikh Mohammed Jamal al-Natsheh, 65 years old, is a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council who has spent over 23 years in occupation prisons, including nine years under administrative detention, imprisonment without charge or trial. He was arrested for the first time in 1988, amid the great popular Intifada. One of the prominent leaders and symbols of the Hamas movement in the West Bank of occupied Palestine, in 1992 he was among 415 Hamas and Islamic Jihad officials and members forcibly exiled by the occupation to Marj al-Zuhour in southern Lebanon following a resistance operation, before they achieved their return.
He was arrested and ordered to house arrest on multiple occasions by the Palestinian Authority as part of its “security coordination” with the Zionist regime, and arrested and imprisoned once again by the occupation in 2002, amid the Al-Aqsa Intifada. During this time, he was held in solitary confinement for four years. In 2006, he ran in the elections for the Palestinian Legislative Council with the victorious Change and Reform slate aligned with Hamas. Upon his release from occupation prisons, he was arrested multiple times between 2013 and 2025, ordered to administrative detention and subjected to a travel ban. During his time behind bars, he participated in several hunger strikes demanding an end to the administrative detention policy.
He was abducted from his home in al-Khalil on 11 March 2025 and immediately subjected to torture, beating and abuse for 10 days under interrogation. He was injured so badly by this violent assault that he suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and other internal bleeding and was transferred to the infamous Ramleh prison clinic — referred to as “the slaughterhouse” by Palestinian prisoners. During this time, his family was denied any information about his health and he was denied legal visits.
His family has since learned that he is now suffering from kidney failure and multiple other health issues, and remains in a state of shock as a result of torture and medical neglect. They confirmed that he did not suffer from any acute or chronic illness prior to his arrest, and his current health crisis and urgent situation is caused by the occupation’s torturers.
The Prisoners’ Media Office stated, “We hold the Zionist occupation fully responsible for the life of captive MP Mohammed Jamal al-Natsheh, who was subjected to an attempted assassination and liquidation through severe torture.” Amid the widespread outcry about his torture and medical mistreatment, the occupation announced that his trial was being postponed, and, on 30 April, prevented his lawyer from visiting him once again on the pretext that he was being transferred to another hospital. Sheikh al-Natsheh’s life is at risk on a daily basis inside the occupation prisons, requiring immediate intervention and his liberation.
Ayman al-Haj Yahya
Ayman al-Haj Yahya, from Taybeh in occupied Palestine ’48, has been imprisoned in occupation jails since 2020, sentenced in 2023 to 7 years of imprisonment for allegations of contact with “foreign agents,” a common charge used by the occupation against Palestinians holding “Israeli” citizenship who travel to Lebanon or meet with Arab and regional liberation movements.
He is the general secretary of the Kifah movement, a movement of Palestinians in occupied Palestine ’48 that focuses on organizing Palestinians and boycotting Zionist institutions such as the Knesset, as well as a long-time advocate for the liberation of Palestinian prisoners. He served as the Secretary of the Prisoners’ Association in occupied Palestine ’48. During the three years of detention during which his trial was repeatedly postponed, he lost his wife, Rula al-Haj Yahya. Ayman and Rula are the parents of four children.
Ayman’s son, Jihad al-Haj Yahya, was sentenced in 2024 to 13 months in prison for “incitement to terrorism and identification with Hamas” for posting three stories to his social media account, in which he declared, “Our Gaza will not die” and expressed his solidarity with the Palestinian resistance, as part of the Palestinian people. These “incitement” charges are frequently used to target Palestinians in ’48 occupied Palestine and silence even verbal or social media activism against genocide.
His fellow prisoners in the Naqab desert prison issued an appeal to the world to protect his life and health after he fell seriously ill inside the Naqab prison and was denied access to health care or medical treatment, with only his fellow prisoners providing him with support with the nearly nonexistent supplies available to them. Following the appeal of the prisoners to the world, his lawyer announced that he was currently hospitalized with pneumonia.
In this context, Ayman’s own words, urging support and action for the prisoners, serve as a call to action for all: “Do not forget your prisoners, those you left behind — raise their voices high, for we are dying in the prisons.” – prisoner Ayman Al-Haj Yahya
Zaher al-Shishtari
Zaher al-Shishtari is a leader in the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) who has been a dedicated struggler for Palestinian liberation since his youth as a co-founder of the Union of Secondary School Students while a high-school student. From Nablus, he has been arrested and detained over 30 times by the occupation since 1979, serving years behind bars.
Most recently, he has been imprisoned by the occupation since August 2024, when he was abducted from his home in a late-night invasion. Since his imprisonment, he has suffered from serious deterioration of his medical condition, developed the skin disease scabies, and been denied necessary medications and treatment for his chronic health conditions as part and parcel of the systematic medical mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.
He suffers from multiple sclerosis, a chronic disease that affects the central nervous system and leads to weakness in movement and balance. The occupation confiscated his cane and has denied him the prescribed injections for his MS, which he is supposed to receive monthly. He also suffers from cranial nerve palsy (facial paralysis) and chronic diabetes. His lawyer, Nadia Daqqa, reported that he can no longer walk without the assistance of his fellow prisoners and relies upon them for his daily needs, including assistance in using the bathroom. On one occasions, he tried to go to the bathroom on his own, fell, and suffered severe injuries and bruising as a result. He has lost over 15 kg (33 pounds) inside the occupation prisons due to medical neglect and the occupation’s starvation policy.
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These three imprisoned leaders are not alone in their struggle against the “slow assassination” policy against the Palestinian prisoners. Just days ago, imprisoned mother Haneen Jaber was diagnosed with cancer inside the Zionist jails, raising fears for her life and health, while leading Jenin journalist Ali Samoudi has been transferred to hospital after being arrested by occupation forces on 29 April.
Samoudi, who suffers from multiple chronic health conditions including diabetes and high blood pressure and who recently had a heart attack, has been injured many times by occupation forces while carrying out his journalistic duties — most recently in May 2022 when he was injured while witnessing the assassination of his colleague, Shireen Abu Aqleh by Zionist soldiers in Jenin refugee camp. As a result, he has pieces of shrapnel throughout his body, including in his spine, feet and head, causing further risk to his life and health.
We urge all supporters of Palestine and the Palestinian cause to speak out actively and take action through demonstrations, mass actions and direct actions to confront the abuse of Palestinian prisoners. The imperialist powers, like the US, Canada, Britain, Germany, France and the Netherlands, that continue to arm, support and provide cover for the Zionist genocide in Gaza and throughout occupied Palestine, are fully implicated in these inhuman actions.
Our entire movement must respond collectively to such repression by organizing even more loudly, clearly and effectively to shut down the imperialist-Zionist war machine, to support the Palestinian resistance and all forces of resistance in the region, and to ensure that the Palestinian prisoners are not now and will never be isolated from the Palestinian people, the Arab, Islamic and regional liberation causes, and the international movement for justice.
Freedom for all Palestinian prisoners in occupation jails! Victory to the Resistance!
From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free!
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