Prisoners’ groups denounce death of 3 Palestinians in Israeli jails
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society have confirmed the death of three prisoners from Gaza in Israeli detention. The Palestinian prisoner rights NGOs issued a joint statement identifying the men as Taysir Saeed al-Abd Sababa (60), Khamis Shukri Mar’i Ashour (44), and Khalil Ahmad Khalil Haniyeh (35).
Sababa, a father of nine, died on December 31 last year, two months after his arrest. Haniyeh, a father of four, died on December 25, almost a year after his arrest. The statement did not specify when Ashour, a father of six, died.
The organisations said Palestinian prisoners continue to die in detention due to torture, starvation, medical neglect, sexual assault, and systematic violations of human rights.
Palestinian detainees suffering ‘severe hunger’: Israeli legal office
A report by Israel’s public defender’s office says detention conditions for Palestinian prisoners have grown markedly worse since October 7, 2023, with many suffering severe hunger, massive overcrowding, and poor sanitary conditions.
Israeli officials such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir have often bragged their policies have led to harsher conditions for Palestinian inmates.
The report said reduced food allotments for Palestinian prisoners introduced after the October 7 attacks on Israel have led to “severe hunger, manifested in sharp weight loss and accompanying physical symptoms including extreme physical weakness and even fainting”, according to the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.
The public defender’s report – based on visits to Israeli detention facilities such as Ramon, Megiddo, Ayalon, Shatta, Eshel and Ketziot – also stated that Palestinian detainees “are held in dark cells without lighting, in harsh sanitary conditions, in stifling heat and without ventilation”.
Many detainees suffer poor health conditions as a result, it added.
