Environment
The suffering of approximately 9,400 Palestinian detainees held in Israeli occupation prisons is expected to intensify as winter approaches.
The suffering of approximately 9,400 Palestinian detainees held in Israeli occupation prisons is expected to intensify as winter approaches. The Palestine Centre for Prisoners Studies has warned that detainees have been consistently deprived of warm clothing, bedding and heating facilities for more than three years. Meanwhile, conditions inside prisons and detention centers, particularly regarding hygiene and healthcare, have deteriorated severely.
Riyad al-Ashqar, director of the centre, said that Israeli authorities had imposed a complete ban on providing detainees with clothing and bedding since October 7, 2023. Visits by family members have also been suspended, and prison canteens, where detainees previously purchased basic necessities, have been closed.
In a statement, al-Ashqar explained that Israeli authorities had barred all international organisations, including the Red Cross, from delivering clothing to detainees. Prison administrations had also confiscated detainees’ personal belongings, including clothes and bedding. Mattresses and the remaining bedding are reportedly removed from rooms and cells during the day. He added that detainees are forced to wear the same clothes and use the same bedding for extended periods, without access to facilities for washing or replacing them. The absence of medical care and essential treatment has contributed to a significant spread of skin diseases, particularly scabies.
According to Riyad al-Ashqar, the suffering of detainees in prisons such as Naqab, Ramon and Nafha becomes particularly severe because these facilities are located in desert regions where temperatures drop sharply during winter. Some sections consist of tents that offer little protection against the cold. Rainwater also enters these tents, soaking clothing, mattresses and personal belongings. The center said that these harsh conditions are not limited to prisons. Detainees held in temporary detention and interrogation centers also face severe difficulties, with no access to warm clothing, bedding, hot water or heating facilities.
Al-Ashqar stated that detainees arrive at these centers wearing only the clothes they had on when they were arrested and are not permitted to bring additional clothing. When they are subsequently transferred to prisons, they encounter a severe shortage of basic necessities, further compounding their suffering during the winter months.
Detainees from the Gaza Strip are in the most precarious situation, facing extremely harsh detention conditions as winter approaches. Al-Ashqar noted that, according to the center’s estimates, approximately 2,000 detainees from Gaza remain in Israeli custody, deprived of basic living necessities. The centre cited accounts from recently released detainees from Gaza, who reported that in some detention facilities they were provided with only thin, dirty blankets and old, worn-out mattresses.
Their food was reportedly poor in quality and insufficient in quantity, while detainees suffering from illnesses were also denied adequate nutrition suited to their medical needs. Citing the center’s reports, al-Ashqar said detainees were taken outdoors during extremely cold weather wearing light clothing, with their hands handcuffed, and forced to sit for hours on rain-soaked ground.
He warned that the continued deprivation of Gaza detainees of clothing, bedding and mattresses, combined with their isolation from the outside world and the suspension of visits, poses serious risks to their lives as temperatures fall. The situation is particularly concerning because obtaining information about their well-being or assessing their detention conditions has become extremely difficult.
Riyad al-Ashqar stressed that children, women, elderly people and sick detainees are among those most severely affected by extreme cold. He warned that the lack of appropriate clothing and heating, combined with food shortages and inadequate medical care, could place their health at serious risk. The center called on international organizations and human rights bodies to intervene urgently to ensure the protection of detainees. It urged them to pressure Israeli authorities to allow the provision of winter clothing, bedding, mattresses, adequate heating and other basic necessities. Al-Ashqar also emphasized the need to guarantee essential medical care for detainees, particularly those who are ill or injured. He warned that if the deprivation of basic necessities continues as winter approaches, the medical and humanitarian suffering of detainees inside prisons and detention centers could become even more severe.
