LONDON: Prison guards shot Palestinian detainees at close range and inside their cells in Israeli detention facilities, causing injuries that in some cases required surgery, according to accounts collected by two Israeli human rights groups.
Physicians for Human Rights Israel and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel said on Thursday they received at least 22 accounts, most in the past year, from prisoners who described being shot with rubber, plastic or sponge rounds.
Twenty-one accounts came from Palestinian prisoners and one from a Jewish prisoner, the groups said in a statement that Arab News received.
The Israel Prison Service defended its use of “less-lethal means,” saying it was measured, proportionate and based on operational need.
It rejected the groups’ demand to halt their use and declined to disclose the weapons, ammunition or rules governing their deployment, citing operational and security concerns.
The accounts span seven detention facilities, including Ofer, Ganot, Ktzi’ot, Gilboa, Megido, Nitzan and Eshel.
Prisoners described shootings during raids, inside prison wings and in cells, where they had little room to move away or take cover.
Medical records cited by the groups document serious injuries in at least two cases.
In one, a 45-year-old prisoner was brought to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba in June 2026 after what his medical record described as “a disturbance and an incident of rubber-bullet fire.”
He suffered multiple injuries, including trauma to his testicles. After an examination and ultrasound, surgeons found that his right testicle was “completely crushed” and removed it, according to the record.
In another case, a prisoner said he was shot at close range in the left leg. Medical records held by Physicians for Human Rights Israel confirmed a fracture that required hospitalization at Soroka and subsequent surgery.
Other prisoners reported injuries to their legs, abdomen, pelvis and hands. Several said they were not examined after being injured or received inadequate medical care.
Some accounts described guards opening fire during protests or episodes of distress.
A prisoner at Ofer said he refused to return to his cell from the prison yard to protest going several months without treatment for scabies. When he demanded medication, he said, guards shot him and used a Taser on his head.
At Nitzan, another prisoner said he was struck “in his lower body by several rubber bullets” while experiencing a panic attack.
Citing the accounts, the two Israeli rights groups wrote to the attorney general and senior prison service officials demanding an immediate end to the “uncontrolled use of projectiles” against prisoners.
They also sought disclosure of the weapons and ammunition used and the regulations governing their use.
The groups argued that the reported shootings violated prison service regulations restricting weapons use to specified circumstances and requiring force to be proportionate and used only as a last resort.
Muhannad Abu Ghosh, director of the Prisoners and Detainees Department at Physicians for Human Rights Israel, said the accounts pointed to an escalation in shootings in recent months.
“While shooting at prisoners is not a new phenomenon, we are witnessing an unprecedented escalation in its use in recent months,” he said.
“The accounts we have collected indicate that shooting is increasingly becoming another routine form of violence inside prisons.”
He said that the reported injuries were “severe,” including “heavy bleeding, fractures, and injuries to internal organs, with some prisoners requiring hospitalization and surgery.”
Abu Gosh warned that “the growing use of gunfire not only normalizes a new level of violence inside prisons — it also increases the risk of even more serious injuries, irreversible harm, and potentially life-threatening consequences.”
Merav Ben-Zeev, legal department director at the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, criticized the prison service’s refusal to disclose details about its weapons and rules for using them.
“The Israel Prison Service’s response reflects a profound disregard for the bodies, mental well-being, and safety of the prisoners in its custody,” she said.
“It also perpetuates the secrecy surrounding what takes place behind prison walls in Israel, including extreme violence and indiscriminate torture, all justified on security grounds.”
Ben-Zeev added: “The very use of the term ‘less-lethal means’ to describe ammunition raises a disturbing question: does the (Israel Prison Service) even consider non-lethal means when dealing with Palestinians?”
She said the group was considering further action against the shootings.
“In light of the (Israel Prison Service’s) response, we are considering further action against this practice of shooting, which not only endangers lives but also serves as another means of torture and psychological abuse.”