DaysofPal – The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said Tuesday that Israeli occupation prison forces fired a rubber bullet at imprisoned Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti inside his cell, describing the incident as a dangerous escalation in attacks against Palestinian prisoners.
The club’s head, Abdullah Al-Zaghari, said in a statement that the shooting of Barghouti, 66, represented a serious development in what he described as ongoing attempts to target Palestinian prisoners’ leaders.
“This assault reveals the occupation’s move toward more brutal levels in targeting imprisoned national leaders,” Al-Zaghari said, adding that Barghouti and other senior prisoners have been subjected to a campaign of torture, isolation and repeated assaults since October 2023.
Barghouti’s wife, lawyer Fadwa Barghouti, said on Monday that the family learned during their latest visit that a prison guard had fired a rubber bullet at her husband’s leg from close range inside the prison.
She said Barghouti sustained injuries and bleeding, describing the incident as part of a broader pattern of physical and psychological attacks against him.
Al-Zaghari said the treatment of Barghouti was “not an isolated incident,” but rather part of what he described as a systematic policy targeting leaders of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.
He said thousands of Palestinian prisoners, including women, children, elderly detainees, patients and wounded prisoners, face similar conditions inside Israeli occupation prisons, including torture, medical neglect and harsh detention measures.
“The prisons have turned into spaces where torture, slow killing and organized violations are carried out away from effective international oversight,” Al-Zaghari said.
He accused Israeli occupation authorities of attempting to normalize abuses against Palestinian prisoners, saying the growing international solidarity with Barghouti and other detainees shows increasing awareness of their situation.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club called on international organizations and governments to take action beyond statements of condemnation, urging accountability measures against Israeli occupation authorities.
The Arab League has also called for an international investigation into the reported assaults against Barghouti, an independent medical examination, and his transfer to a hospital outside prison.
Barghouti has reportedly faced multiple assaults since October 2023, including an attack in September 2025 that his family said resulted in broken ribs and other injuries. He has been held in solitary confinement since November 2023 after being transferred between several isolation sections.
Barghouti, a senior Fatah leader and former member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, is serving five life sentences plus 40 years after an Israeli court convicted him over his role during the Second Intifada. He was arrested in 2002 and remains one of the most prominent Palestinian prisoners held by Israel.
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