‘Hamas must be defeated’: Ben-Gvir
Israel’s far-right national security minister has said that the country must not agree to a ceasefire deal that demands “surrender”.
“Hamas must be defeated, and [Israel must] not submit to its dictates that demand surrender,” he said in a post on X. “The territory of the Gaza Strip must be occupied permanently, humanitarian aid must be stopped, and it must be defeated.”
Ben-Gvir, who is also in charge of the prisons where Palestinians are being detained, also said: “The conditions of the terrorists in the prisons have indeed worsened and I am proud of that – I have no intention of submitting to the dictates of Hamas.”
In Israeli prison of Ofer, several suicide attempts due to detention conditions
According to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, there have been at least seven suicide attempts by Palestinian prisoners at Ofer, near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
The commission said it was due to “bad detention conditions, the brutality of jailers, and malnutrition and medical neglect”. “These fascist practices in Ofer prison are making detainees prefer death over life,” a statement by the commission said.
A lawyer for the commission confirmed the attempted suicides following a visit to Ofer on July 24. “Detainees are being subject to beatings and assault. Some have burns on their skin from showering in extremely high temperatures, which the prison administration controls remotely. They are then not provided with the appropriate medical care,” the lawyer said.
Some detainees are cancer patients and have had their chemotherapy sessions cancelled. Many others have lost weight due to malnutrition, while overcrowding is leading to the spread of diseases, the commission said.
256 detainees have died inside Israeli prisons since 1967: Group
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society has said that there are 28 prisoners whose bodies are still being held by Israeli authorities.
Seventeen of the 28 have died since October 7 and their bodies have not been returned to their families for burial, the organisation said.
