Number of Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life in prison 553

• The occupation courts issued a new ruling against a prisoner from Al-Khalil, which is the first this year.

The Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies confirmed that the number of Palestinian prisoners sentenced to life in the occupation prisons has risen to more than 500, after the occupation courts issued a new ruling against a prisoner from Al-Khalil, which is the first this year.

The director of the center, Riad Al-Ashqar, stated that the "Ofer" Military Court issued last Thursday a life imprisonment sentence against the prisoner Mahmoud Kamel Atawneh, from the town of Bayt Kahil, in Al-Khalil.

The Israeli court added a fine of one million shekels after convicting Atawneh of planning to stab an occupation soldier near the "Gush Etzion" settlement in August 2019, where he supervised the recruitment and training of a cell that carried out the operation, although he himself did not participate in the implementation. Still, a life sentence was issued against him.

The center explained that the court's decision raises the number of prisoners sentenced to life in prison to 553.

Al-Ashqar also revealed that the life sentence against the prisoner Atawneh is the first during the current year, and the occupation courts issued life sentences against 5 prisoners in 2022, prisoner Montaser Shalabi from Ramallah, prisoner Muhammad Marouh Kabha from Jenin, prisoner Khalil Abd al-Khaliq Dweikat from Nablus, prisoner Ahmed Aref Asafra from Al-Khalil, and prisoner Bilal Ahmed Abu Zaid from Jenin.

A number of prisoners sentenced to life in prison have been detained for more than 25 years, Al-Ashqar indicated, adding that they are the old prisoners, in addition to dozens of other prisoners who have been detained for more than 20 years, as the majority of the deans of the prisoners are serving life sentences, and the highest sentence is that of prisoner Abdallah Al-Barghouti, who is sentenced to life imprisonment 67 times.

Al-Ashqar indicated that the life imprisonment sentence, or 99 years, is imposed by the occupation on security prisoners it accuses of killing Israelis, whether settlers or soldiers, as well as on those responsible for directing martyrdom and military operations that led to the killing of Israelis.

It is worth noting that the Israeli occupation's suppression forces barged on Friday dawn into "Megiddo" Prison, forcefully taking 40 prisoners out of their designated cells and isolating them.

This comes after the Israeli occupation forces earlier in January Al-Naqab prison and assaulted various Palestinian prisoners, Palestinian sources reported.

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 Palestinian prisoners in a bid to further stifle the Captive Movement.

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. "This is part of a Zionist plan that Ben-Gvir contributed to the expedition and implementation of in record time."

Waed proceeded to call on the International Committee of the Red Cross 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.

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.

The committee warned that the attack on prisoners, especially in the "Ofer, Megiddo, Al-Naqab, and Damon" prisons will not pass unanswered.