'Israel' escalates brutal measures against Palestinian prisoners
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Palestinians in the West Bank are being subjected to increased punitive measures as the Israeli occupation goes on wide-scale arrest campaigns, aiming to oppress them.
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Relatives of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails demonstrate in Ramallah to demand their release and to express solidarity with the people of the Gaza Strip (Jaafar ASHTIYEH/AFP)
The Israeli occupation took more brutal measures against Palestinians in October, detaining more than 1,850, including 51 women and 120 children, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Center For Studies (PPCFS).
The Center also revealed that the previously mentioned number of detainees includes neither the thousands of Palestinian workers from Gaza who were arrested on October 7 and are kept in private camps nor the workers arrested from the West Bank.
The report only includes Palestinians arrested by occupation forces during daily raids on Palestinian towns and cities in the West Bank, those who were arrested at military checkpoints, and those who were forced to turn themselves in after members of their families were held as hostages by Israeli occupation forces.
The last tactic has been employed at a greater than usual rate according to the Center, as occupation forces pressure individuals to turn themselves in by holding their wives, parents, and children hostage until they do so.
Israeli occupation forces have also been deployed across the West Bank to carry out arrests en masse, utilizing brutal measures, assaulting civilians, and vandalizing their homes, as well as severely beating some individuals.
Which areas were targeted by arrest campaigns?
- More than 500 citizens were arrested in al-Khalil in the southern West Bank.
- More than 200 arrests were recorded in Quds Governorate.
- 14 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council were re-arrested.
Palestinian women and children targeted by "Israel"
Furthermore, the Center's director Riyad al-Ashkar revealed that the occupation increasingly targeted Palestinian women in October, especially in al-Quds and the 1948 occupied Palestinian territories.
Israeli authorities have been systematically targeting any individual who expresses support for Gaza and its Resistance on social media platforms. Moreover, "Israel" has accused Palestinian women of inciting violence after they shared posts on social media exposing the war crimes of the occupation in Gaza.
The occupation detained more than 51 women and 120 children last month. Children as young as 8 years old were arrested by the occupation under conditions that international agencies and non-governmental organizations view as unlawful.
Number of administrative prisoners on the rise
More than two-thirds of the prisoners were arrested "preemptively" under what has become to be known as administrative detention. The occupation has heavily used this method to oppress Palestinians in the West Bank, as it holds them captive under no charge. Such prisoners are held for six months subject to automatic renewal.
Last month, at least 700 Palestinians were arrested under such conditions while authorities issued renewals for previous detainees.
Additionally, two Palestinian prisoners, Arafat Yasser Hamdan and Omar Hamza Daraghmeh, were killed by Israeli occupation forces amid increased mistreatment and torture cases in Israeli prisons. The number of Palestinians killed inside Israeli prisons has now reached 239.
Both prisoners were killed under torture just a few days after being held under administrative detention. Occupation forces have also released police dogs at prisoners as a form of torture and used sound and gas bombs to intimidate detainees.
Moreover, authorities also increased punitive measures against prisoners, cutting electricity off of their cells, serving them inedible food, cutting off water supplies, and depriving them of medicine, among other measures, including solitary confinement.
The current number of prisoners in Israeli prisons is estimated to be around 7,000, including hundreds of children and women.
