Hamas chief Ismail Haniyeh speaks to the press upon his arrival on the Palestinian side of the Rafah border crossing, in southern Gaza in September 2017. File Photo by Ismael Mohamad/ UPI. | License Photo
Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh released a statement Sunday mourning the deaths of Palestinian civilians who have died in Israeli prisons.
Haniyeh said there has been an “unprecedented increase” in the number of prisoners killed in occupation prisons and detention centers, and he condemned Israel for a “systematic blackout” preventing people from seeing prisoner conditions in “Guantanamo Israel,” referring to the notorious Ofer Prison. Advertisement
He accused Israel of engaging in “psychological and physical torture” of Palestinians as well as slowly killing them and depriving them of treatment, food and medicine.
Haniyeh’s statement comes as he called on Aug. 3 to mark a day of global action to support for Gaza and its prisoners taken by Israel.
The Palestinian Commission of Prisoner’s Affairs released a statement Sunday naming one of the prisoners who was killed by Israeli authorities. Sheikh Mustafa Abu Ara was killed at the Rimon Prison during a “systematic medical crime targeting him.” Advertisement
Abu Ara was also subjected to severe beatings and torture during his detention, the commission alleged. Before his death, he had been arrested several times and spent a total of 12 years in Israeli prisons.
The commission also provided the names of 74 people who face new or renewed orders of administrative detention, a practice by which Israeli authorities can detain Palestinians indefinitely without charges, which Palestinians have likened to kidnapping.
Among them is journalist Nidal Abu Aker from Bethlehem, who is considered one of the most prominent people under Israeli detention. His radio program traces the movement of prisoners inside Israeli jails and passes on prisoners’ messages to the Palestinian public.
Over the years, the journalist has spent many years in administrative detention, but with the new order, he has exceeded two years in administrative detention continuously without facing charges.
The commission noted that there have been at least seven attempts of suicide by Palestinian prisoners because of the “bad conditions” at the prisons and “brutality of the jailers.”Recent abuse allegations include a detainee who was burned by scalding hot water while taking a shower and another who had his cancer treatment canceled before he was beatten by the guards and returned to his cell. Advertisement
Earlier this month, the commission revealed that nearly 10,000 people from Palestine are currently being detained by Israeli authorities.
At that time, the commission said that Rami Abu Mustafa, a Palestinian man suffering from mental problems, had died in Gaza after he was released from Israeli detention. The commission noted he had been “subjected to torture, unprecedented in its level and intensity.”
The commission called Mustafa a victim of “medical crimes” and the “crime of starvation” with the thousands of other Palestinians who are often held indefinitely without charges in Israeli prisons.
And at least two women who have been detained by Israel are pregnant as conditions, including sexual harassment by their Israeli guards, continue to worsen for Palestinian prisoners.
More than 3,400 Palestinians are currently under “administrative detention,” a practice decried by the human rights group Amnesty International. The group has said the practice “dramatically increased” after the war began. Palestinians and their supporters often equate it to kidnapping.
Amnesty International has documented cases of Israeli soldiers torturing Palestinian detainees, including “severe beatings” and “humiliation.” The human rights group said that such torture had been occurring “for decades” before Hamas’ attack Oct. 7.
And, Israeli forces have continued to detain dozens of journalists and healthcare workers in Gaza. Advertisement
