RAMALLAH, (PIC)
The Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs on Thursday warned of the policy of starvation pursued by the Israeli prison service (IPS) against Palestinian male and female prisoners in prisons and detention centers, which has led to the loss of tens of kilograms of their weight.
Based on its lawyers who visited a number of prisoners in Israeli prisons during the past few days, the Commission said that the average weight loss for each prisoner ranges between 15-20 kilograms, indicating the danger of the policy pursued against the prisoners and its negative effects on their present and future conditions.
The Commission clarified that the quantities of food provided to the prisoners are much less than the minimum required, in addition to its poor quality and intentional contamination, exposing them to various diseases, which has actually appeared on some of them.
It added that the number of sick prisoners has doubled significantly, as they are deprived of medicines and treatment, especially with the harsh winter season this year, which has exacerbated their suffering.
The Commission said that the IPS deliberately uses starvation as a daily punishment method, since the seventh of October 2023.
The legal team of the Commission highlighted the IPS unethical and inhumane policies in dealing with male and female prisoners, including forcing prisoners to kneel and lower their heads towards the ground, as well as insulting, provoking, and beating them, with a focus on verbal and psychological humiliation, and insulting mothers, sisters, and sanctities.
The Commission called for an end to this crime and appealed to all those concerned to intervene to compel the Israeli authorities to treat them as prisoners of liberation movements, to whom international agreements and conventions apply.
This campaign against the prisoners coincides with the war of starvation practiced by the Israeli occupation army against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, where the occupation army deprives them of the most basic elements of life, such as water, food, and medicine, in addition to their exposure to daily shelling and genocide.
