Detainee Mahmoud Hassan Mohammed Al-Wardian, 48, remains in the intensive care unit at the Arab Society Hospital in Bethlehem, Southern occupied West Bank, after spending just over three weeks being interrogated by the Israeli occupation. He had no health problems prior to his arrest. According to the Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), Wardian was subjected to an “assassination attempt in Israeli interrogation cells”.

Mahmoud Hassan Mohammed Al-Wardian

Mahmoud Hassan Mohammed Al-Wardian was arrested by the IOF on August 18 2025, alongside his father and several other residents of Bethlehem, as part of the occupation’s ongoing mass arrest campaign in the West Bank. After being arrested, he was transferred to the Ofer interrogation centre, where Israeli intelligence issued an order prohibiting him from meeting with a lawyer throughout his detention period, which was extended four times so as to continue his interrogation.

Wardian’s condition was critical when he was transferred from Ofer prison to the Israeli occupation’s Hadassah Medical Centre, on 25 August. By the time he arrived he was unconscious, so was admitted to the intensive care unit (ICU).

Wardian was released, and transferred to the Arab Society Hospital’s ICU, on 11 September, because of critical condition, where he remains today. Medical reports from the hospital claim Wardian is suffering from brain damage due to severe deprivation of oxygen, as well as fractures to his ribs, wounds and bruises, including around his neck.

Israel violating international law through systematic torture of Palestinian prisoners

In a statement released on 14 September, the PPS said of Mahmoud Hassan Mohammed Al-Wardian:

The occupation committed a compounded crime against Al-Wardian, starting from the moment of his arrest, through his transfer for interrogation, his denial of legal counsel, the repeated extensions of his detention under the pretext of ongoing interrogation, culminating in his torture and attempted assassination.

The PPS went on to say:

We hold the occupation authorities fully responsible for the crime committed against Al-Wardian, which constitutes another episode in a long series of heinous crimes carried out by the occupation for decades.

Mahmoud Hassan Mohammed Al-Wardian has been a frequent target of repeated arrests over the past years, most of which were under administrative detention, meaning there was no trial or charge, and detention could continue indefinitely.

According to the PPS, since the start of this genocide:

no prisoner or detainee has been spared from torture, which has become systematic.

It said that crimes committed are now reaching “a level beyond description”.

The PPS continued that:

What is happening is part of an ongoing process of ethnic cleansing and erasure, and the treatment of prisoners is a direct extension of the genocide. The continued international silence regarding these crimes is an affront to all humanity. The consequences of this genocide will reach everyone who has used impotence as an excuse to shirk their responsibilities.

Israel’s treatment of Palestinian prisoners flagrantly violates international law, including the 1984 Convention Against Torture and the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which forbid torture and require the protection of detainees. The International Criminal Court (ICC) defines the widespread, systematic use of torture as a crime against humanity – an accusation that aligns with Israel’s policies, especially since it has uniquely attempted to legalise such practices within its own legal framework, for decades.

More than 11,000 Palestinian political prisoners are currently locked up in Israeli occupation jails.

Featured image via the Canary

By Charlie Jaay

This post was originally published on Canary.