Israeli guards are severely injuring prisoners by firing rubber bullets

Hagar Shezaf reports in Haaretz on 15 October 2026:

Prisoners at Israel Prison Service (IPS) facilities have been severely wounded by rubber bullets in several cases, according to documents and testimonies obtained by Haaretz. In one case, a prisoner underwent testicle amputation from a rubber bullet wound, and another needed surgery for a fractured tibia. According to human rights organizations, the rubber bullets were fired at close range, including inside cells, in the yard or while waiting for an attorney, and often without any prior disturbance.

Physicians for Human Rights Israel and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel have collected 21 testimonies from 21 prisoners who were hit by rubber bullets since the start of the war. The cases, taking place at the Ofer, Ganot, Ktziot, Gilboa and Nitzan prisons, are mostly from late 2025 and the first half of 2026.

The testicle injury – the most severe one documented – happened at Ktziot Prison in June. According to a medical document from Soroka Medical Center, the prisoner arrived “after a riot and rubber bullet shooting incident.” The medical document noted that the testicle was “completely mutilated” and was surgically removed.

The events preceding the injury were detailed in a written testimony taken by an attorney who visited the prisoner. The prisoner said that, when he first arrived at Ktziot, he was thoroughly searched.

“They made me take off all my clothes and do squats. While I was squatting, one of the guards kicked me directly in the testicles and continued to beat me while telling me to get dressed,” he stated. When he reached his cell, he removed his pants and saw swelling and felt a sharp pain. He requested to see a doctor, but was only allowed to be examined at the clinic two days later. There, he said, he was diagnosed with severe inflammation and blood in his urine and given antibiotics.

In the morning, a week later, members of the Metzada unit – the IPS’s operational takeover unit – began firing “rubber bullets that looked like marbles” into the cell where he was held. He described how two prisoners were shot, and then he was shot twice – the first bullet, fired through the cell door window, hit the testicle that had been previously struck, and another bullet hit him behind his right knee. From there, he was dragged about 50 meters to the prison wing’s door, limping and bleeding.

“When I reached the yard, I had nothing to hold onto and fell to the ground because of the injury. The bleeding was very severe, and from what the prisoners described, I looked like a butchered animal,” he said. He was then handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded. Later, one of the guards called someone to help stop the bleeding, and he was taken to the clinic – but he lost consciousness before arriving. At the clinic, he noted, they cursed him and called him a “dog.”

He later lost consciousness again and was then evacuated to Soroka Medical Center, where his testicle was amputated. According to the medical documents, he was discharged from the hospital after one day. In the testimony to his lawyer, he stated that even after his discharge from the hospital, he continued to suffer beatings and was not given walking aids. He also noted that the IPS is trying to disclaim responsibility by claiming he had a medical defect even before the injury.

The prisoner who needed surgery for a fractured tibia was hit with a rubber bullet at Ktziot Prison in July, and was hospitalized at Soroka Medical Center. According to the documentation, he underwent internal fixation surgery for a fractured left tibia and was transferred to the Prison Service Medical Center one day later.

In a third case, according to a medical file, a prisoner from Megiddo Prison was shot in October 2025, sustaining a hematoma in his right thigh. The medical file also describes him falling on the same right thigh during a raid by guards on his cell in February. In March of this year, he was evacuated to the hospital after swallowing “a foreign object.” A hospital examination revealed he had a fractured pelvis and needed total hip replacement surgery. The medical documentation provided by the IPS claimed the fracture was caused by his fall.

Another prisoner that was recently released from Ktziot Prison was shot by a rubber bullet in April, and only underwent surgery upon his release. In a conversation with Haaretz, he said that the incident began when the prison wing management demanded prisoners in the yard enter a crowded cell containing about 40 prisoners. Ten minutes later, a Keter unit – the IPS’s initial response force – entered the cell.

“We were a large number of people, one on top of the other, in the corner, on our knees, with our hands on our heads. My back was to the door, and suddenly I heard a gunshot and felt pain in my left leg, and at the same time, I heard prisoners screaming in pain,” he said.

He said that the shooting was carried out at close range – no more than two meters, he estimated. “Right after that, they handcuffed us from behind, and dragged us in a humiliating way, one by one, to the courtyard of the prison wing. There they threw us onto our stomachs, even though there were injured people bleeding.”

The released prisoner said that four others were hit by rubber bullets, and in the courtyard, they were ordered to lie with their heads near the sewage drain, and were stepped on. They were later given initial medical treatment, but, according to the prisoner, it was ineffective. He said that the prison wing management transferred all those injured to isolation the next day.

“What were we punished for? We were injured for no reason; we don’t know why they shot us,” he said. He claimed he didn’t get proper medical treatment for 15 days. “I had a serious infection in my leg and thought I might lose it due to the extent of the infection,” he added. He eventually received antibiotics at the prison clinic, but wasn’t taken to a hospital, only getting surgery when he was released.

“I had a muscle tear, and as a result, a lump was pressing on a sensitive nerve. It bothered me greatly when walking, so I had surgery to remove it. Now I can sit in a chair and walk better,” he said. Like many prisoners, he agreed to speak with Haaretz anonymously, fearing repercussions if his identity were revealed.

According to Physicians for Human Rights Israel, a prisoner at Ofer Prison wasn’t treated for scabies and decided to protest by not returning to his cell from the yard until he received his medication. In response, he was shot and an electric taser was used on his head. In another case in Nitzan Prison, the organization said a prisoner was injured in his lower body during an anxiety attack.

These incidents are in addition to the ones published in Haaretz over the weekend, as part of an investigation in which three prisoners testified to witnessing the use of rubber bullets in Ofer, Nafha, Megiddo and Ktziot prisons – including at prisoners inside showers and cells. Physicians for Human Rights Israel also received testimony from a Jewish criminal prisoner who stated that rubber bullets were used against Jewish prisoners in 2025 and 2026.

In August, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and Physicians for Human Rights Israel sent a letter on the subject to Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara, Prison Service Commissioner Kobi Yaakobi and the then-legal adviser to the Prison Service, Eiran Nahon (who has since become the legal adviser to the police).

In the letter, the organizations demanded an end to the use of ammunition against detainees, especially at close range and in enclosed spaces, which could be lethal, and could cause ammunition to ricochet and injure prisoners not involved in whatever disturbance justified the legal use of such ammunition.

The organizations wrote that, while they were unsure of the exact ammunition type used, it appeared to be rubber or plastic bullets based on the prisoners’ descriptions. They demanded that the IPS provide information about the type of ammunition and weapons used. They noted that the shooting occurred in cells, isolation wings, the yard and even the waiting room for attorney visits.

According to the organizations, the way the rubber bullets are used deviates from the IPS’s orders regarding the possession and use of weapons, which stipulate that a guard may shoot only in a limited number of cases, including escape or attempted escape, a prisoner attempting to breach prison doors or a prisoner using violence against a guard or another person.

The IPS’s legal department responded to their inquiry on Sunday, two months after sending the letter. In the response, it claimed that the decisions to use “less lethal” means are made according to operational necessity and after assessing the situation, examining the level of threat, the details of the moment, and the level of danger posed. It said the deployment of these means is carried out in accordance with specific instructions detailing their operation and conditions of use, and that there’s a dedicated procedure by the IPS’s Operations Division regulating the hierarchy of their use. The IPS further asserted that there’s no basis to order a blanket cessation of the use of such means, and no justification for their demand to receive details about the means and ammunitions used, or their details and operating rules.

The Legal Department Director for the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Attorney Meirav Ben Ze’ev, told Haaretz that it’s difficult to persuade prisoners to file complaints on the subject, despite the phenomenon being widespread. She said that prisoners “are very afraid of filing complaints about guard violence,” partly out of fear of retaliation, and partly because, they claim, they experience the worst violence when they’re transferred to file a complaint, receive medical treatment or attend legal proceedings. Ben Ze’ev said the ability to protect someone who filed a complaint, and monitor what happens to them in prison afterwards, is also limited: the IPS doesn’t allow frequent-enough visits, and scheduling a meeting can take two or three months.

“People have no incentive to file complaints, especially since, in complaints filed in recent years, we haven’t seen a single case where someone was prosecuted,” she said. According to Ben Ze’ev, the IPS’s response to the organizations’ appeal reflects a view of “disregard for the bodies, souls and safety of the prisoners in their custody, as well as a continuation of the veil of secrecy over what actually happens behind prison walls – indiscriminate violence and torture, under the guise of security considerations.”

Muhannad Abu Gosh, director of the Prisoners Department at Physicians for Human Rights Israel, added that “shooting at detainees isn’t a new phenomenon, but we’ve been witnessing an unprecedented escalation in its use recently.”

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