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The administrative and physical landscape within Israel’s detention facilities has undergone a profound deterioration, marked by institutionalized neglect, widespread violence, and an overt policy of deprivation overseen by National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir. Testimonies from former detainees and data from human rights organizations paint a grim picture of a prison apparatus where harsh treatment is not merely an incidental outcome, but a celebrated state strategy.
For Muath Amarneh, a 39-year-old Palestinian photojournalist who has endured multiple stints in Israeli detention, the public posture of prison authorities stands in stark contrast to the daily brutalities inflicted away from public view. Having observed the minister’s self-promotional video releases boasting of degraded inmate conditions, Amarneh emphasized that such broadcasts carefully conceal the extensive mistreatment that precedes and follows ministerial photo opportunities.
According to Amarneh, official visits are staged to display ministerial bravado, while the extensive physical beatings and psychological degradation inflicted upon prisoners remain hidden. The brief moments of confrontation shared on official channels obscure prolonged ordeals during which inmates are subjected to intensive humiliation and violence outside the camera's frame.
Ben-Gvir, who has directed Israel's prison authority for nearly four years, has consistently utilized his platform to showcase punitive measures against Palestinian detainees as major administrative milestones. This strategy recently culminated in the release of an artificial-intelligence-generated video on his social media accounts, which depicted well-nourished Palestinian men entering a detention center on a conveyor belt and later exiting weeping and emaciated under the slogan "We promised, we delivered." The post was subsequently deleted following sharp public backlash and comparisons to historic concentration camps.
In another public recording, the minister was seen directly interacting with female detainees. When one woman stated that she was denied medical care and had not been permitted to shower for three days, Ben-Gvir affirmed that favorable conditions were permanently abolished, declaring that he maintained direct responsibility for the policies and expressed satisfaction with the prevailing hardships.
The escalation inside the penal system coincides with a massive expansion in the use of administrative detention—a practice where individuals are incarcerated without formal charges or trial. According to Addameer, a Palestinian prisoners’ rights organization, the number of administrative detainees has surged to approximately 3,200, more than double the estimated 1,300 held prior to October 7, 2023.
Addameer has documented these systemic shifts while facing persistent opposition from Israeli and United States authorities, who have accused the advocacy group of supporting terrorism—an allegation the organization categorically denies. The group’s records highlight how administrative detention has increasingly been used to detain professionals, community members, and media workers.
Amarneh, who lives in the Dheisheh refugee camp south of Bethlehem, experienced repeated targeting by security forces long before his recent imprisonments. In 2019, while covering Israeli military operations near Hebron while visibly wearing a press vest, he was struck in the face by a rubber-coated metal bullet, losing his left eye and suffering permanent damage from shrapnel lodged near his skull.
Following the outbreak of the war on Gaza in October 2023, Amarneh was arrested and placed in administrative detention for nine months, held in both Megiddo and Nafha prisons. Upon securing his release, he intentionally altered his career trajectory, stepping away from breaking news reporting to produce documentary projects in an explicit effort to avoid further apprehension by military forces.
Despite taking these precautions, Amarneh was detained again in August 2025 and held for an eight-month term at Ofer prison, once more without any charges brought against him. Reflecting on his repeated detentions, Amarneh stated that his imprisonment was solely rooted in his professional work as a media worker.
Legal experts note that while systemic maltreatment existed prior to the current administration, the operational environment worsened drastically following the events of October 7. Sahar Francis, a lawyer and executive director of Addameer, noted that Ben-Gvir began implementing punitive measures immediately upon taking office, beginning with the shutdown of the two primary bakeries that produced bread for detainees.
The structural conditions inside the facilities deteriorated even further following October 2023. Family visitations and access by the International Committee of the Red Cross were immediately halted, while legal representatives were barred from seeing incarcerated clients for four to five months. Confiscation policies stripped detainees of personal items, literature, and spare clothing, leaving many individuals with only a single outfit.
Daily routines inside the facilities have been supplanted by intensive physical deprivations. Inmates, including Amarneh, were forced to wear the same garments for up to 90 consecutive days. Concurrently, internal health clinics were shut down, and special enforcement units commenced regular raids into prison wings, carrying out severe beatings that rights monitors say have directly resulted in multiple inmate deaths.
Francis emphasized that physical abuse, harassment, and severe violations have escalated to levels unseen in decades, characterizing the current climate as a return to the extreme brutalities observed during the earliest eras of military occupation.
The physical consequences of these policies have been severe for those detained. Across his two periods of administrative detention, Amarneh experienced severe nutritional deprivation, losing 35 kilograms (77 pounds) over the course of nine months.
Amarneh described the transition as a comprehensive dismantling of basic living standards, noting that institutions that were already exceptionally harsh before the war have been deliberately reshaped into facilities unfit for human existence.
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