Rights Groups Document Israeli Prison Guards Shooting Palestinian Prisoners

Two human rights organizations have documented 22 testimonies from Palestinian prisoners and detainees alleging that Israeli prison guards have fired at them with projectiles described as rubber, plastic, or sponge bullets. These incidents reportedly occurred at close range and inside cells, causing severe injuries that required surgical intervention. The Israel Prison Service has refused to disclose the types of weapons and ammunition used.

The data, collected by Physicians for Human Rights and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, includes 21 testimonies from Palestinian detainees and one from a Jewish detainee, with most incidents occurring in the last year across several Israeli prisons. Medical documents reviewed by the organizations reveal serious injuries, including a 45-year-old prisoner who was hospitalized in June 2026 after an incident involving "disturbances and rubber bullet fire." His medical file indicated multiple injuries, including to his testicles, with ultrasound examinations revealing a severe injury to his right testicle that necessitated its surgical removal.

Another detainee reported being shot in the leg at close range by guards, with medical records confirming a fracture that required surgery. Testimonies also detailed incidents in Ofer, Gannot, Ketziot, Gilboa, Megiddo, Nitzan, and Eshel prisons, with injuries to legs, lower body, abdomen, pelvis, and hands. Detainees described being shot during raids on sections and inside cells, in situations where escape or cover was impossible. Some also reported being denied medical examinations or adequate treatment post-injury.

In one instance, a prisoner at Ofer jail, protesting a months-long denial of scabies treatment, was allegedly shot and hit with a stun gun on his head when he refused to return to his cell. At Nitzan prison, another detainee reported being hit by multiple "rubber bullets" in his lower body during a panic attack.

The organizations emphasized that these accounts suggest the use of live fire in circumstances that violate even the Israel Prison Service's own directives, which restrict weapon use to specific situations and require proportionality as a last resort. Following the documentation, the groups petitioned Israeli judicial authorities and senior Prison Service officials to immediately halt the "uncontrolled use of live fire against prisoners" and to reveal details about the weapons, ammunition, and rules of engagement.

The Prison Service acknowledged using "less lethal" means against prisoners, claiming their use is "calculated" and "proportionate" according to "operational needs." However, it refused to disclose the nature of these means or ammunition, citing "operational and security" concerns, and rejected calls for a comprehensive halt to their use. Muhannad Abu Ghosh, Director of the Prisoners and Detainees Department at Physicians for Human Rights, stated that while shooting prisoners is not new, its recent use has seen an "unprecedented escalation," becoming a "routine method of violence." He warned of increased risks of severe, untreatable injuries and endangered lives. Meirav Ben Ze'ev, Director of the Legal Department at the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, criticized the Prison Service's response as showing "contempt for the bodies and safety of prisoners" and perpetuating "obscurity behind prison walls." She questioned the use of "less lethal" terminology for ammunition used against Palestinian prisoners and stated the committee is considering further action against these practices, which she described as a form of "torture and spirit-breaking."