46 Palestinians Inmates on Hunger Strike in Zionist Jail

Palestinian inmates are on a hunger strike at an Zionist prison in protest against mistreatment and poor conditions at the detention facility, the Prisoners and Former Prisoners’ Affairs Committee says, Press T.V reported.

The committee announced that 46 Palestinians at Etzion Prison, located south of the occupied al-Quds (Jerusalem), have stopped eating their food portions since Thursday in protest against being “constantly humiliated, assaulted and beaten” during interrogations, and “inhumane” conditions at the jail.

The committee said the prisoners are also angry over the quality and quantity of food served to them, filthy living spaces, inadequate medical treatment and lack of regular access to showers. Some inmates said they have not got to take a shower in the past 15 days.

Late last month, Etzion was flooded following days of heavy rainfall. The flooding left everything drenched, mainly the prisoners’ clothes and blankets.

Cold and wet conditions led to illness and infections among the detainees that were neglected by prison officials.

There are reportedly more than 6,500 Palestinians held at Israeli jails. Hundreds of the inmates have been apparently incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention, which is a policy under which Palestinian inmates are kept in Israeli detention facilities without trial or charge.

Some Palestinian prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to eight, ten and eleven years.

The Palestinian inmates regularly hold hunger strikes in protest at both the administrative detention policy and harsh prison conditions.

Zionist troops shoot, injure two Palestinians in northern West Bank

Meanwhile, two Palestinians have sustained gunshot wounds when Zionist military forces clashed with a group of Palestinian protesters in the northern part of the occupied West Bank and fired gunshots to disperse the crowd.

On Friday, dozens of Palestinians held a weekly demonstration in the town of Kafr Qaddum, located about 13 kilometers (eight miles) west of Nablus, against the expropriation of Palestinian land by Israel as well as the closure of the town’s southern road.

MuradShteiwi, the Coordinator for Popular Resistance in Kafr Qaddum, said violence broke out when Israeli soldiers intervened and fired live bullets to break up the protest.

Khalid MuradShteiwi, an 11-year-old boy, was struck in the right thigh and wounded. Israeli soldiers shot and injured a 45-year-old man, identified by the first name Jumaa, as he was transferring the wounded child to an ambulance.

Meanwhile, an illegal Israeli settler has been reportedly injured in an alleged stabbing attack near the ancient Wailing Wall in the Israeli-occupied Old City of al-Quds (Jerusalem).

Israeli forces sealed the area after the incident and launched a manhunt operation to arrest the attacker, a 15-year-old Palestinian teenage boy.

The occupied Palestinian territories have been the scene of heightened tensions triggered by Israel’s imposition in August 2015 of restrictions on the entry of Palestinian worshipers into the al-Aqsa Mosque compound in East al-Quds.

Al-Aqsa Mosque is the third holiest site in Islam after Masjid al-Haram in Mecca and Masjid al-Nabawi in Medina.

The restrictions have enraged Palestinians, who are also angry at increasing violence by Israeli settlers frequently storming the al-Aqsa Mosque. The Palestinians say the Tel Aviv regime seeks to change the status quo of the compound.

More than 190 Palestinians, including children and women, have lost their lives at the hands of Israeli forces since the beginning of last October.

R.S