Marwan Barghouti's family received news of Palestine's most famous prisoner on March 18. A fellow inmate told a visiting lawyer that he had seen him in his cell, his face bloodied and one eye red. He was reportedly beaten on March 3 and 12 in Megiddo prison, where he remains in solitary confinement. Incarcerated in Israel since 2002, the 64-year-old Fatah leader was transferred three times since October 7 and separated from his cellmates. According to those close to him, he is subjected to a regime of "torture," like all Palestinian prisoners, who for the past five months have been subjected to detention conditions of unprecedented brutality.

"They play the Israeli national anthem and the Israeli declaration of independence at full volume in his cell. He has no access to medical care, no opportunity to maintain personal hygiene, he has no electricity, and he has lost 10 kilos," said his son, Arab, based on two visits by a lawyer, authorized in January and February, following pressure from Western states. "By treating my father in this way, Israel is demonstrating to all prisoners that it can do whatever it wants to them," said Arab. The Israeli prison service rejected these accusations, claiming that it operates "within the law."

Since October 7, the Palestinian Prisoners Club registered 13 deaths in Israeli cells – a figure not confirmed by the Israeli authorities, to which must be added 27 deaths recorded in detention camps, where suspects captured in Gaza remain in army custody, in a black hole. The Israeli association Physicians for Human Rights, whose members have attended autopsies, has indicated that several of these detainees may have died from a lack of care.

Like Mohammad Al-Sabar, 28, who suffered from congenital colon disease and died after four months on a downgraded and reduced diet, or Abdel Rahman Bahash, 23, whose chest and abdomen showed traces of blows that shattered several of his ribs and damaged his spleen.

"We've never seen such a level of abuse. The prisoners don't get enough food. Some of those we have met have lost 20 kilos," said Jessica Montell, director of HaMoked, an Israeli association that provides legal aid to prisoners. Reports of violence and threats, including rape, are mounting. According to HaMoked and the Prisoners Club, the cells are overcrowded, radios have been confiscated and electricity cut off, and blankets and cleaning materials are in short supply. The Red Cross no longer has access to the prisoners.

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