TEL AVIV, 20 Feb. - (ANA) - The Palestinian Prisoners Club said Wednesday that, as the holy month of Ramadan begins, Israeli occupation authorities are holding more than 9,300 Palestinian and Arab detainees. They face policies of torture, starvation, and slow killing, described by the club as the "most severe in the history of the Palestinian prisoners' movement".

 

According to a statement from the club, thousands of prisoners have been subjected to ongoing starvation policies for nearly two and a half years. Many were forced to fast most days, with prison administrations providing only minimal rations sufficient to keep them alive.

 

Prisoners have also been denied the right to pray collectively, and in some facilities, they are barred from owning the Quran or performing prayers.

 

Among the detainees are about 70 women held in Damoun prison and interrogation centres, and around 350 children held in Megiddo and Ofer prisons. They face the same policies of torture and starvation.

 

Since the start of the killings, over 100 prisoners have died, with the identities of 88 confirmed. Some died as a result of starvation combined with torture, abuse, and sexual assaults.

 

One of the dead includes Walid Ahmed, a child who died of hunger in Israeli prisons. Hundreds of other children continue to face starvation and are deprived of their basic rights.

 

The club also said that nine prisoners have been held since before the Oslo Accords, with some serving terms exceeding four decades.   - (ANA) -

 

AB/ANA/20 February 2026 - - -