On Thursday, the Prisoners' Affairs Commission in Palestine confirmed that the prisoner Mohammed al-Arida still suffers from harsh conditions due to the detention cells inside of Ashkelon Prison, in addition to his suffering from "neglect and willful disregard for his difficult health conditions."

The Commission said, in a press statement, that his lawyer was able to visit him and was informed by him that the occupation authorities are holding him inside a cell that lacks basic necessities, completely isolated from the outside world, and without electrical tools.

It added: "The occupation prisons administration deliberately deals with the prisoner in a racist retaliatory manner, as it keeps carrying out repressive searches of his cell, whether by special repression units or the prison police, and allows him to leave the cell for one hour only."

Read more: The Policy of Neglect; Behind the Walls of the Occupation Prisons

The authority pointed out that "there has been a decline in the prisoner's health state and he started to complain about severe pain in his back." They reported that he was transferred to the prison clinic, but the doctor only gave him painkillers. The prisoner's condition worsened; yet, the doctor did nothing but mock him. 

It is noteworthy that the prisoner from the town of Arrabeh, south of Jenin, has been detained since 2002 and sentenced to life imprisonment.

He is one of the six prisoners who took their freedom through a tunnel dug in their cell outside Gilboa prison on September 6. 

On September 10, the Israeli occupation forces arrested the first two prisoners from Gilboa prison, Yaqoub Qadri and Mahmoud al-Arida. Then, on September 11, it arrested two others, Zakaria al-Zubaidi, and Mohammed al-Arida. 

On 19 September, Ayham Kamamji and Munadel Nafi'at, the two remaining prisoners, were arrested.