Prominent Palestinian prisoner Abdullah Barghouti, a hero of the Palestinian resistance and a symbol of steadfastness, continues to suffer horrific torture and degrading treatment at the hands of Israeli occupation forces, his family revealed this week.

His family has sounded the alarm, exposing the deepening humanitarian catastrophe faced by Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons — a reality systematically ignored by much of the international community.

Barghouti, a distinguished leader within Hamas' armed wing, the Izz al-Din al-Qassam Brigades, has been locked in the Zionist regime’s dungeons since 2003. Serving an outrageous and politically motivated sentence of 67 life terms — the longest in Israeli history — Barghouti’s "crime" in the eyes of the occupiers was his steadfast resistance to the illegal colonization and brutalization of his homeland.

Yet even decades of incarceration have not broken his spirit — and so Israel has intensified its efforts to crush him physically and psychologically.

Daily Torture and Systematic Medical Neglect

Since Israel's barbaric assault on Gaza began in October 2023, Barghouti’s suffering has only worsened. His daughter, Tala Barghouti, revealed in a heartbreaking statement that Israeli forces have been subjecting her father to systematic torture on a near-daily basis.

After removing fellow inmates from his cell, occupation forces reportedly spend hours torturing him using iron rods, belts, and other weapons of cruelty. The beatings have left him with severe fractures, open wounds, and such intense pain that he can no longer stand, move, or sleep lying down. He has reportedly lost a tremendous amount of weight, now weighing barely 70 kilograms.

Worse yet, the prison administration has denied him all forms of medical care, forcing fellow prisoners to sterilize his open wounds using dishwashing liquid — a gruesome scene that highlights Israel’s utter contempt for Palestinian life.

Tala shared that a lawyer who was finally permitted a rare visit left the meeting in tears, overwhelmed by the horror she had witnessed. “The lawyer left the visit with tears in her eyes, unable to convey the shock and anguish she witnessed," Tala wrote, underlining the magnitude of the human rights violations being committed behind prison walls.

Isolation and Denial of Basic Human Rights

Abdullah Barghouti has spent the majority of his 23-year imprisonment in solitary confinement — a method widely recognized as psychological torture. His wife, Faida Barghouti, revealed that during these long years, family contact has been brutally restricted. The family has been allowed to see him only five times in over two decades. His own father, who passed away in January 2024, was allowed a single, fleeting visit before his death — a cruelty that no family should endure.

"My husband has been severely beaten several times, but we never hear from him because lawyers are banned from visiting him," Faida said. "It takes at least three months to receive a response to their visit request, and often the request is denied."

In December 2023, Barghouti was transferred to Gilboa Prison — a facility notorious for its harsh conditions and mistreatment of Palestinian detainees.

The Barghouti family has repeatedly appealed to human rights organisations and the Jordanian government to intervene, but their cries for help have been met largely with silence. International human rights defenders warn that Abdullah’s life hangs in the balance unless urgent action is taken.

Israel's Collective Punishment of Palestinian Prisoners

Abdullah’s case reflects a broader pattern of systematic abuse against Palestinian prisoners that has intensified dramatically since Israel's latest genocidal war on Gaza began.

Today, over 9,900 Palestinians — including 27 women and more than 400 children — languish in Israeli prisons, subjected to brutal beatings, starvation, denial of medical treatment, and systematic humiliation. Reports from prisoners' rights groups reveal that at least 60 Palestinian detainees have died as a direct result of these conditions in the past 17 months alone — a record-breaking death toll that marks an unprecedented escalation in Israel's war on Palestinian existence.

This campaign of brutality is part of a deliberate policy of collective punishment designed to break the Palestinian people's will and destroy any resistance to occupation — a policy that constitutes grave breaches of the Fourth Geneva Convention and amounts to war crimes under international law.

A Call to Action: Save Abdullah Barghouti, Save Palestine’s Prisoners

Despite decades of torture, isolation, and deprivation, Abdullah Barghouti remains a symbol of unbroken resistance. His resilience embodies the spirit of Palestine: a spirit that no cell, no beating, no siege can extinguish.

The Palestinian people, the Jordanian public, and justice-seekers around the world must raise their voices louder than ever. Immediate pressure must be applied to demand an end to Israel’s systematic torture of prisoners, the provision of urgent medical care to Barghouti and thousands of others, and accountability for the occupiers' crimes against humanity.

Abdullah Barghouti’s life must not be allowed to slip away unseen, unheard, forgotten.

Every second that passes without action is a silent endorsement of the Zionist regime’s brutality. (ILKHA)