Captive movement: Assaulting prisoners will not pass unanswered

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The Supreme National Emergency Committee of the National Captive Movement announced on Saturday that the coming hours will witness an escalation against the Israeli occupation’s continued aggression against the prisoners.

In a statement, the committee indicated that the Israeli occupation prisons administration isolated a number of prisoners, as part of the policy of "shuffling cards", which the "spiteful" Israeli Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir seeks to implement, and took punitive measures against a number of male and female prisoners, claiming that they celebrated Friday's Al-Quds operation.

The committee warned that the attack on prisoners, especially in the "Ofer, Megiddo, Al-Naqab, and Damon" prisons will not pass unanswered, calling on Palestinians to stand by their prisoners and support them through all possible means.

The Captive Movement also extended its condolences to the Palestinian people in general, and to the families of the martyrs of the Jenin massacre in particular.

Earlier, Israeli occupation forces (IOF) stormed several sections in "Ofer, Megiddo, and Al-Naqab" prisons, assaulting the prisoners and isolating a group of them, in retaliation to the prisoners' celebration of Friday's Al-Quds operation.

On Friday night, martyr Khairi Alqam carried out a shooting attack north of occupied Al-Quds that left seven illegal Israeli settlers killed and at least 10 injured.

Only a few hours later, two illegal Israeli settlers were seriously wounded in a separate shooting operation in Silwan, occupied Al-Quds.

The Israeli occupation's violations against Palestinian prisoners come in light of the large-scale transfers of prisoners that the IOF has been carrying out against prisoners in a bid to further stifle the Captive Movement. It is expected that these actions will affect several other prisons and may continue through March.

The Palestinian Prisoners Information Office said on Sunday that the Israeli occupation forces transferred 70 Palestinian prisoners from "Ramon" Prison to Gilboa Prison.

The Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs in Gaza commented on the uptick in transfers being conducted by the Israeli occupation, saying they were aimed at undermining the stability that Palestinian prisoners have, calling it an attempt to increase the occupation's influence and control over the Palestinian Captive Movement.

"These transfers have drastically increased since Operation Freedom Tunnel in 2021, and their frequency has increased even more since Ben-Gvir took over the Police Ministry in the occupation's government," the Ministry indicated.

The Waed Prisoners Association revealed that the transfers would include around 2,000 Palestinian prisoners who will be spread out over various prisons within a month.

The association called on the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to intervene and guarantee that the prisoners' lives are not harmed, asking the ICRC to increase its effort in light of the dangers that the prisoners are being exposed to.

It is worth noting that 4,700 Palestinian prisoners were still in Israeli occupation prisons by the end of 2022, including 29 women and 150 children, and about 850 administrative detainees, including seven children, two female prisoners, five deputies in the Palestinian Legislative Council, and 15 journalists.

Among the Palestinian prisoners, 330 have been detained for more than 20 years, 25 before the signing of the so-called "Oslo Accords" in 1993, and 552 prisoners have been sentenced to life imprisonment.

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