The Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy has called on the international community to urgently provide international protection teams for Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli occupation prisons, in light of the escalating severity of Israeli violations and assaults against them.
The center indicated that it has recently documented a wide and unprecedented series of assaults, violations, and systematic punitive measures carried out by the Israeli Prison Authority against prisoners across various prisons, detention centers, and interrogation facilities. These violations include depriving prisoners of sleep for long hours under the pretext of searches and security checks in their rooms. Prior to these actions, heavily armed forces accompanied by police dogs storm the prisoners’ rooms unexpectedly, violently assault them, handcuff their hands and feet, and force them to lie face down on the ground. This process continues for several consecutive hours, sometimes lasting up to six hours straight.
Other reported abuses include pouring hot water on prisoners, forcing them to strip naked during headcounts, denying them access to water, preventing them from going to medical clinics, and providing them with very small quantities of food, often spoiled and unfit for human consumption, leaving prisoners hungry for days at a time. The Israeli Prison Authority also resorts to solitary confinement for prisoners suffering from illnesses, warning any prisoner against filing health or legal requests.
The Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy asserts that these violations would not occur without political cover and direct orders from the Israeli government and its National Security Minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who personally issues instructions to tighten detention and prison conditions for Palestinian prisoners. Prisoners have reported that many of the punitive measures coincide with or follow visits by Minister Ben-Gvir.
The center urges the international community and the United Nations to take serious action to deploy international protection teams to put an end to these escalating violations against Palestinian prisoners, particularly given the Israeli occupation’s disregard for international humanitarian laws that guarantee detainees and prisoners their human and legal rights.
