Israeli guards' messages reveal fatal beating of Palestinian prisoner in Ketziot

September 9, 2026 at 09:37 PM2 min

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Phone messages between guards at Israel's Ketziot Prison reveal they beat Palestinian prisoner Sair Semih Ebu Asab to death in November 2023. The messages, obtained by Haaretz, show guards celebrating the death and describing routine violence against inmates. Israeli prosecutors indicted 12 prison guards last week over the killing.

Key Facts

Palestinian prisoner Sair Semih Ebu Asab died in November 2023 after being beaten by guards at Ketziot Prison.
Israeli prosecutors indicted 12 prison guards last week over Ebu Asab's death.
Guards' phone messages describe beating new detainees 'until their kidneys burst' and raiding prayer cells.
The indictment says Ebu Asab's severe beating caused heart damage that led to his death.

The Messages

Female guard Oshrit Eliga wrote to her guard boyfriend: 'You will be proud of me and my shift. After what happened, the count took 2 hours and 23 minutes. You understand the rest. They are doing CPR in the clinic right now, my love!' Another guard messaged: 'Damn, what a count. We beat them up badly.' A third guard wrote: 'What a crazy count. Never seen anything like it. We poured cheese on them, broke some eggs. There was blood flowing in the cells. Oh my God, they are doing CPR on a prisoner we beat. He died. Listen, it's funny how everything happened at once. Boom, count. Boom, dead prisoner.'

The Victim

Ebu Asab was a member of the Fatah movement, sentenced to 25 years in prison and held since 2005 until his death. He was taken to hospital that evening and died there. According to the indictment, the severe beating caused damage to his heart that led to his death.

The Indictment

About three years after Ebu Asab's death, prosecutors last week filed an indictment against 12 guards from the Israel Prison Service. The guards are accused of beating Ebu Asab and eight other Palestinian prisoners in the cell in retaliation for the killing of Druze soldiers in the war. The information about the Druze soldiers' deaths later turned out to be false. Since October 7, 2023, the Israel Prison Service has repeatedly faced allegations of severe violence and mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners.