‘We are Moving Skeletons’: Palestinian Prisoners at Center of Global Protests
Feature
Global protests marked the International Day of Solidarity with Palestinian Prisoners, demanding detainees’ release, an end to prison abuses, and accountability amid continued Israeli violations in Gaza.
On Saturday, January 31, activists across the world took part in coordinated actions marking the International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People and Their Prisoners, calling for the release of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons, the lifting of the siege on the Gaza Strip, the entry of humanitarian aid, and an end to arms supplies to Israel.
The mobilization was organized under the banner of the World Rises Up for Palestine campaign, which stems from the Global Campaign to Save Prisoners and was carried out in cooperation with the Red Ribbons Campaign, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, and other international solidarity networks.
Actions included mass demonstrations, protest vigils, and large marches in major cities and capitals, including London and Paris, alongside coordinated digital campaigns aimed at keeping the issue of Palestinian prisoners visible in global public discourse.
Organizers stressed the importance of active participation, whether through street protests or symbolic actions such as wearing red ribbons, described as a sign of rejection of injustice and support for the Palestinian people’s right to freedom and dignity.
More than 9,200 Palestinian Prisoners
According to data from Palestinian prisoners’ organizations, Israel continues to hold approximately 9,200 Palestinian prisoners as of the beginning of 2026. Many are detained without charge or trial under administrative detention orders, including women, children, and elderly Palestinians.
Advocacy groups report that prisoners are subjected to systematic abuse, including torture, starvation, medical neglect, prolonged solitary confinement, and the denial of family visits. Testimonies from prisoners recently released by Israel describe extreme weight loss, visible signs of physical abuse, and serious psychological harm caused by months or years of mistreatment.
Campaigners argue that while global attention often focuses on Israeli captives, the ongoing imprisonment of thousands of Palestinians remains largely ignored, despite its scale and severity.
A Voice from inside Israeli Prisons
The severity of prison conditions was highlighted by a message from Hassan Salama, a senior Palestinian detainee, conveyed on Saturday by his lawyer following a recent visit.
According to lawyer Hassan Abadi, who met Salama in the Ganot desert prison, the prisoner said that detainees are living under extraordinarily harsh conditions due to continuous violations by the Israeli prison administration.
“We have become moving skeletons,” Salama reportedly said, referring to the loss of tens of kilograms suffered by prisoners as a result of malnutrition and the extremely limited food rations provided.
Abadi said Salama appeared after being brought from solitary confinement, escorted by masked and armed jailers. He added that Salama has not seen sunlight for months and described the conditions of detention as unbearable, likening the prisoners’ situation to being buried alive.
According to Abadi, Salama is being held in isolation alongside several other prisoners, including Mahmoud Attallah, Qusay Marai, Mohammad Arman, Anas Jaradat, Islam Jarrar, Ahmad al-Maghrebi, Muhannad Shreim, and Walid Hanatsheh.
Salama was born in 1971 in the Khan Yunis refugee camp in the Gaza Strip. He was arrested by Israel in 1996 after a long pursuit and later sentenced to 48 life sentences, one of the longest sentences handed down to a Palestinian prisoner.
‘The Genocide is Not Over’
As part of the January 31 mobilization, the Palestine Solidarity Campaign warned that Israel’s genocide against Palestinians in Gaza has not ended, despite the ceasefire agreement that came into effect on October 10.
According to official figures, Israeli forces have killed at least 492 Palestinians and injured 1,356 others since the ceasefire began, through repeated violations.
(PC, AJA, Palestinian media)
It’s really NOT about me but who has joined the www.redribbonscampaign.com
Am I just blowing in the wind. We have seen global movements winning traction. Raising awareness. If you go to the site you can download a picture frame like mine for all your social media. If you want the face can be anything. I have had hate directed at me for my appearance, so I get it.
9000 plus hostages including hundreds of children. Let them go.
I am adding this link to almost everything. Please share.
One wonders how many more Gazan non-combatants would have been slaughtered, and sooner, by the Israel Defense Forces had Hamas unconditionally released the Israeli hostages as Western politicians/governments and news-media immediately demanded? And then there's the former IDF soldier, Benzi Sanders, who told CNN's Christiane Amanpour in an interview [Amanpour & Company, PBS, November 6, 2023] that Israel “facilitated” transfers of weapons to Hamas militants — arms likely intended for use against Israel!
... Many Palestinians, including children, have been (over the many decades since the creation of Israel) held, if not brutalized, in Israeli detention centers or jails without being charged for long periods of time, even many years. Most of them eventually get released, albeit many of those as part of a trade or human exchange by the Israeli state. To me that sounds a bit like ‘hostage’ treatment. And it’s much easier for a conscience to do when one considers another an innately lower lifeform who also looks different from you (notably skin color).
The most frightful example of the philosophical justification ‘the end justifies the means’ is the pogrom, the primary implementers of which know they’re committing mass murder yet still genuinely perceive it all as part of an ultimately greater good. In this case, it's in Israel's ethnic-/religious-purity and material/land/natural-resource interests.