The genocide in Israeli prisons
Families of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails demonstrate in Ramallah, November 2023
Qassam Muaddi reports in Mondoweiss on 7 June 2024:
Israel’s genocidal war on Palestinians since last October has extended beyond the daily mass death, displacement, and starvation of the civilian population in the Gaza Strip. Behind the bars of Israeli prisons, Israel has been waging war against Palestinian prisoners, creating conditions that make the continuation of human life impossible. The effects of this brutal campaign have reverberated among prisoners’ families outside of jail, who are watching their loved ones being systematically starved, beaten, tortured, and degraded.
Shortly after October 7, Israel imposed a new set of rules in its cell blocks. In some detention centers like Ofer near Ramallah, the Israeli army was reportedly handed over control of the prison, while the Israel Prison Services guards were given a free hand in dealing with Palestinian inmates inside the jail sections. This shift was accompanied by a dramatic increase in the number of Palestinian detainees who were arrested after October 7, doubling the prisoner population as early on as mid-October. This included prisoners from Gaza, for whom the hardest part of the treatment was reserved.
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Other depravities have been documented in several other prisons, often gloatingly by Israeli news channels who broadcast scenes of the abuse, including degrading treatment, in what can only be described as snuff films. Israeli prison doctors have assisted in the torture of Palestinian detainees, both before and after October 7. Alongside these acts of torture and humiliation, prison authorities have severely restricted prisoners’ food intake to the point of near-starvation, giving 20 prisoners enough food for two people.