RAMALLAH, (PIC)
The director of Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS), Abdullah Al-Zaghari, has warned of the Israeli intention to kill more Palestinian prisoners, including leaders, as a result of systematic torture rounds which have remarkably escalated since October 7.
Al-Zaghari revealed in a statement on Monday that Israeli repression forces in Megiddo prison have recently attacked prisoner leader and member of Fatah movement’s Central Committee, Marwan Barghouti, along with a group of other high-profile prisoners, most notably prisoners Thabet Mardawi and Salama Qatawi.
Al-Zaghari said that assaulting Barghouti and the other leaders in Israeli prisons is part of the Israeli systematic approach to targeting Palestinian prisoner leaders, warning of intentional killing of detainees, highlighting that at least 13 prisoners have recently died in Israeli prisons.
He accused the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) of inciting against Palestinian prisoners on media, especially against Barghouti, and boasting about the crimes committed against them.
Al-Zaghari held the IOA fully responsible for the fate of Barghouti, and all prisoners in the Israeli prisons, calling on international human rights groups to assume their responsibilities and protect the Palestinian people and prisoners by pressuring Israel to end that policy.
He highlighted that the IOA carried out repeated transfers and isolations against senior Palestinian captives, including prisoner Barghouti, who was transferred several times from one jail to another, the last of which was to the isolation of Megiddo prison.
Qadura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs, said Israeli Prison Service has escalated its punitive measures against prisoners since the beginning of the month of Ramadan, including severe beatings, insults, humiliation, and confiscation of copies of the holy Quran from the rooms.
“The situation has become more dangerous than anyone could imagine, as the lives of the prisoners have become threatened in the true sense,” Fares said.
The total number of detained Palestinians has risen to about 7,655 since October 7 last year, according to prisoners’ institutions.
