RAMALLAH, (PIC)
The head of the Detainees and Ex-detainees Affairs Commission, Raed Abu al-Hummus, warned on Tuesday morning of the catastrophic health and living conditions of Palestinian detained minors in Megiddo prison, which have become a real threat to their lives.
Abu al-Hummus said, “the information available to us about the situation of minors in the Israeli prison raises concern and anxiety, in light of the organized terrorism by Israeli prison service, which exploits the young age of these minors and their weak physical structure and practices torture and intimidation as a constant routine pursued against them.”
He revealed that the vast majority of underage prisoners suffer from the Scabies in addition to another virus that has recently spread among them, causing them diarrhea, abdominal and stomach pains, and headache.
Abu al-Hummus pointed out that this bitter reality for underage prisoners is the result of exposing them to retaliatory policies, which have been used against all male and female prisoners since the start of the genocidal war against the Palestinian people on October 7, 2023.
He added that these fatal diseases that spread among prisoners, especially children, are caused by lack of hygiene and sterilization, denial of medicines and treatment, severe food shortages, and serving them food with poor quality.
Abu al-Hummus called on local, regional and international human rights and humanitarian institutions, especially children’s rights groups and the World Health Organization, to take immediate action “to save the minors in Megiddo prison, and not to abandon their responsibilities and ethics towards this sensitive issue, especially since we are living in the most difficult stage in the history of the prisoner movement.”
In a similar context, the Commission said that the living and health conditions in Ofer detention center are still difficult and complicated, due to the retaliatory Israeli policies imposed on the prisoners.
It explained, citing its lawyers on Monday, that the occupation exploited the holy month of Ramadan to impose “a bad and bitter reality in prisons, by preventing Palestinian prisoners from performing their religious prayers and worship, in light of the policy of deliberate starvation and isolation from the outside world. Furthermore, Israeli jailers manipulate the clock and times of the call to prayers to mislead the fasting prisoners.”
Prisoner Abdullah Jaradat, 22, from the town of Sa’ir in Al-Khalil, in the southern West Bank, told the Commission’s lawyer that detention conditions in Ofer are tragic, noting that there is no improvement in the conditions of the prisoners.
He added that on the third day of Ramadan, the prisoners were subjected to a raid by the prison administration’s repression units, noting that the prisoners in Section 21 were moved to Section 25, while detainees in Section 25 were transferred to Section 21. The raid was accompanied by assaulting and beating the prisoners, he added.
The Commission said the detention conditions of the prisoners in Gilboa prison were as bad and tragic as in Ofer, as Scabies is widely spread among them in light of deliberate medical negligence by the prison administration, despite the presence of difficult and incurable cases.
According to the Commission’s lawyer, the food provided to the prisoners is poor in quality and quantity, despite fasting in Ramadan, adding that the duration of the allowed free time is only one hour.
The latest statistics indicate that there are more than 10,000 Palestinian prisoners in 23 Israeli prisons and detention centers, including about 3,369 administrative detainees, and at least 365 children and minors distributed in Ofer, Megiddo and Damon prisons.
