The Prisoners’ Information Office has warned that the violations committed against leaders of the Palestinian prisoner movement could lead to their death at any moment.
Ikhlas al-Sayed anxiously awaits any news about the condition of her husband, Abbas al-Sayed, a prominent leader of the Palestinian Resistance movement Hamas and its military wing, imprisoned by Israel.
In recent weeks, the families of several prominent Palestinian leaders held in Israeli prisons have reported systematic torture, mistreatment, starvation, and denial of medical care, resulting in serious health complications.
In an official statement, Hamas accused Israel of carrying out systematic assassination attempts against its leaders in prison—part of what it described as a long-term strategy to dismantle the resistance by physically and morally eliminating its key figures.
Brutal Torture
During her last visit two months ago, Abbas al-Sayed’s lawyer relayed a disturbing account: one night, guards reportedly forced him to undress and left him on the floor in the freezing cold until morning.
According to his wife, Abbas told the lawyer that he awoke at dawn to excruciating pain in his abdomen. His navel had ruptured, causing severe inflammation and unbearable pain—yet he was given no medical treatment.
Ikhlas says her husband is being held in solitary confinement at Rimon Prison, denied legal visits, and cut off entirely from the outside world since that last encounter.
“Just because he demanded, through his lawyer, his right to medical care, he was severely beaten—according to released prisoners’ testimonies. He was then transferred to solitary confinement, even though he suffers from conjunctivitis, scabies, and unexplained sores all over his face,” Ikhlas told the Palestine Chronicle.
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Since the start of the Israeli assault on Gaza, Abbas has reportedly been dragged and beaten multiple times in what appears to be targeted abuse. He was also shot with birdshot, sustaining a minor injury in his armpit. The lack of treatment led to inflammation at the site.
“He was brutally assaulted during the last prisoner release at the end of February. Everyone released from captivity witnessed what happened to my husband,” said Ikhlas.
Abbas al-Sayed is one of the most well-known leaders of Hamas’s military wing. His name is associated with bombings during the Second Intifada that resulted in the deaths of dozens of Israelis. Arrested in 2002, he was sentenced to 36 life sentences plus an additional 200 years.
He has long been subjected to solitary confinement, denied visits, arbitrarily transferred between prisons, and stripped of many rights. Considered a “heavy” name by Israel, he has been consistently excluded from any prisoner exchange deals.
His Teeth Fell Out
Another prominent prisoner, Hassan Salama —also a leader of the Qassam Brigades—has similarly been subjected to brutal and systematic abuse.
His fiancée, Ghufran Zamel, told the Palestine Chronicle that Hassan’s last legal visit took place just a few days ago. He has been in solitary confinement in Megiddo Prison for two months.
According to Ghufran, Hassan told his lawyer that his cell is in deplorable condition, subject to repeated raids and searches. He was beaten more than six times within just two weeks.
He now suffers from severe dental issues; some teeth have fallen out due to medical neglect and malnutrition, and he has not been given any painkillers. He also suffers from persistent headaches.
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“Hassan has been requesting glasses for some time due to ongoing eye pain, but the prison administration refuses to provide them. During visits, masked officers flank him, and his handcuffs are never removed, making it hard for him to even hold the phone through the glass,” Ghufran said.
His solitary confinement began in November 2023. Since then, his home has been bombed, three of his brothers have been killed, and his mother has passed away—yet he only learned about these tragedies much later.
“Recently, he was summoned for questioning by Shin Bet, where he was threatened that he would never be released. A released prisoner once passed along a message from him, saying he nearly died from the torture.”
The most brutal episode reportedly occurred on October 7, 2024, when his hands and feet were bound and he was beaten severely. He later told his lawyer that after 30 years of imprisonment, the abuse he had endured since the war began had been far worse than anything before.
Hassan was arrested in 1996 in Hebron and sentenced to 48 life sentences plus an additional 30 years, for a total of 1,175 years, on charges related to planned bombings in collaboration with the late engineer Yahya Ayyash.
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A Perfect Crime
The Prisoners’ Information Office has warned that the violations committed against leaders of the Palestinian prisoner movement could lead to their death at any moment.
“The information available about the critical conditions of prominent prisoners such as Abdullah Barghouti, Hassan Salama, Muhammad Jamal al-Natsheh, Abbas al-Sayed, Muammar Shahrouri, and others confirms beyond a doubt that Israel aims to assassinate them slowly and systematically,” the office said in a statement.
Hilmi Al-Araj, director of the Hurriyat Center for Civil Rights, stated that Israel is committing medical crimes against Palestinian prisoners and cutting them off entirely from the outside world. These acts, he said, amount to genocide and enforced disappearance.
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According to Al-Araj, daily assaults and abuse of prisoners are routine—but in recent weeks, Israel has specifically targeted factional leaders to endanger their lives.
“Israel has recently allowed information about these killings and abuses to leak out, sending a message to the Palestinian resistance that your prisoners’ lives are at risk—pressuring them to agree to a prisoner swap on Israeli terms,” he said.
“In other words, Israel is using prisoners as yet another pressure tactic—just as it does with Gaza’s civilian population by withholding aid and using starvation to coerce the resistance into accepting its conditions.”
(The Palestine Chronicle)
– Fayha’ Shalash is a Ramallah-based Palestinian journalist. She graduated from Birzeit University in 2008 and she has been working as a reporter and broadcaster ever since. Her articles appeared in several online publications. She contributed this article to The Palestine Chronicle.
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