Arab-Israeli inmate dies in security prison; NGO alleges medical neglect

Gilboa Prison where the conditions of incarceration have grossly worsened since the October 7 War

Nir Hasson reports in Haaretz on 16 June 2026:

A Palestinian prisoner serving a life sentence in an Israeli security prison was found dead in his cell, prison authorities said, as rights advocates said medical records indicated he had not undergone medical examinations since September 2023 despite suffering from several chronic health conditions.

Imad Rajeh Sarhan, a 47-year-old resident of Haifa, died of cardiac arrest, the Israel Prison Service told his family. According to Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, records reviewed by the organization show Sarhan suffered from heart disease, diabetes, hypertension and obesity.

Sarhan was detained in October 2001 and convicted in 2002 of negligent homicide, aggravated assault, and aggravated robbery. He was arrested along with six Arab citizens of Israel on suspicion of attempting to establish a terror cell.

Physicians for Human Rights Israel, which received Sarhan’s medical file, said that it shows he had not undergone medical examinations since September 2023.  This is despite his medical documents indicating he suffered from several medical issues, including chronic heart and vascular diseases, diabetes, high blood pressure, and obesity.

Palestinian prisoners’ rights groups said that Sarhan was subjected to prolonged interrogation and systematic torture during the early years of his imprisonment, which caused serious and lasting health complications, Palestinian news agency WAFA reported. According to the groups cited, he had been forced to use a wheelchair in recent years due to the severe decline in his health.

Sarhan was subjected to repeated periods of solitary confinement, the longest of which lasted four consecutive years, according to the Palestinian Center for Prisoners’ Advocacy.  Sarhan, 47, is the 104th security prisoner to die in Israeli prisons since October 7, 2023. Fifty-five of the prisoners who died were held in Israel Prison Service facilities, and they included prisoners from Israel, the West Bank, and the Gaza Strip. Forty-nine died in military prisons, all of them residents of Gaza.

An attorney who visited Sarhan in prison in January 2024 wrote in a document that he was “eating poorly” and hungry, adding that prison officials said they would speak with the facility commander to improve his diet. He also noted that two additional prisoners shared his cell, sleeping on the floor.

According to data recently provided to HaMoked Center for the Defense of the Individual, 9,361 security prisoners are incarcerated in Israeli prisons: 1,335 are serving prison sentences, 3,386 are detainees who have not been convicted, 3,324 are administrative detainees, and 1,316 are detainees from Gaza held as “unlawful combatants.”

Since the outbreak of the war on October 7, the incarceration conditions for security prisoners have significantly worsened.  Dozens of reports and investigations published in Israel and worldwide have pointed to starvation in prisons, arbitrary violence, denial of medical treatment, denial of showers, cruel punishment, and the spread of the contagious skin disease scabies.

The Israel Prison Service stated: “The security prisoner died in prison, with his medical condition protected under privacy laws. As with every prisoner death, an investigation team has been appointed.”

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