Lina Al-Tawil, director of the Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy, said that prisoners are suffering extremely harsh conditions inside Israeli jails as winter begins.
Al-Tawil explained that Israeli occupation authorities continue to prevent all prisoners from receiving essential winter supplies, especially blankets and winter clothing. She noted that prisoners are only allowed to use one blanket and one set of clothes, and that authorities have recently confiscated anything beyond that.
She added that several previous attempts by local and international organizations to provide even the minimum of these necessities were rejected by the occupation, as part of an intensified policy of restriction and abuse against male and female prisoners.
Al-Tawil also addressed the rising number of sick prisoners and the spread of infectious diseases, noting that winter is a season when such illnesses spread quickly among detainees and often develop into chronic conditions—especially respiratory and chest illnesses. She added that the occupation does not provide any necessary medicines or treatments, and that prisoners’ weakened immune systems cannot withstand these diseases.
The Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy had previously warned of catastrophic conditions prisoners would face in the winter months due to the lack of basic necessities needed to mitigate its effects, especially for the more than 1,500 sick prisoners held in Israeli jails.
