A Palestinian journalist on Wednesday claimed that Israeli prisons have become a “graveyard” for the living, following a dramatic decline in his health after being released from detention earlier this year.

Mujahed Bani Mufleh, 37, spent six months in jail after being accused of inciting violence against Israel through his journalistic work.

Two days after his release in January, he suffered a severe brain hemorrhage and was admitted to hospital in critical condition, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club advocacy group.

Now frail and barely recognizable, Bani Mufleh is recovering at a hospital in Jenin, in the West Bank, after undergoing a series of surgeries during which doctors removed part of his skull.

“The prison was like a graveyard,” Bani Mufleh told AFP, as he underwent rehabilitation to regain his ability to talk and move.

“I was assaulted inside my home in front of my children,” he said of his 2025 arrest during a raid on his house.

Israeli military and prison authorities did not immediately respond to AFP’s request for comment on Bani Mufleh’s allegations, or on the reason for his initial detention and subsequent release without charges.

Israel’s Prison Service has previously said that all prisoners are detained according to the law with their basic rights fully upheld. However, multiple reports have alleged that Palestinian security prisoners have faced systematic abuse, neglect and deprivation in Israeli jails under the orders of far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has repeatedly boasted about the harsh conditions he imposes.

Soon after Bani Mufleh’s release, the former prisoner posted a video online saying that in jail, he “came to understand what real hunger means.”

Bani Mufleh, editor of news website Ultra Palestine, part of Qatar-based media network Ultra Sawt, said he had been “placed in administrative detention without any complete or substantiated charge. They claimed that I incited violence but had no proof.”

Israel currently holds over 1,300 Palestinian detainees under the terms of the law for unlawful........

© The Times of Israel