NGOs: ‘Israel’ arrested 357 Palestinians last March

The occupation state arrested 357 Palestinians, including 48 children under the age of 18 and four women.

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- Several human rights organizations said in a joint fact sheet that the occupation state arrested 357 Palestinians last March despite the coronavirus crisis.

The Palestinian Prisoner Association, Addameer, and the Committee of Prisoners and Former Prisoners issued a fact sheet on Tuesday, in which they insisted that the occupation continued its arrest policy against the Palestinian people although of concerns related to the spread of coronavirus.

‘Israel’ arrested 5,000 prisoners until last March, including 41 females, 180 children, 450 under administrative detention, and 700 sick prisoners.

The fact sheet stated that the occupation state arrested 357 Palestinians last March, including 48 children under the age of 18 and four women.

The NGOs explained that the Israelis arrested 192 Palestinians from Jerusalem, 33 from Ramallah and Bireh, 45 from Hebron, and 23 from Nablus.

They also arrested 19 Palestinians from Jenin, three from Bethlehem, 11 from Tulkarm, 18 from Qalqilya, five from Tubas, and 8 from Gaza.

The fact sheet also revealed that the occupation state issued 92 administrative detention orders in the same period.

The total number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails has reached nearly 5,000 prisoners until last March, including 41 females, 180 children, 450 under administrative detention, and 700 sick prisoners.

Instead of providing protective measures to prevent the virus from spreading, the IPS took punitive measures against the prisoners like preventing them from having cleaning supplies.

The organizations expressed concerns regarding the fate of the Palestinian prisoners amid the spread of the COVID-19 disease and the Israeli deliberate deprival of preventive measures inside the already overcrowded Israeli jails. All of that would make Israeli jails an ideal environment for the outbreak of coronavirus.

The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has already announced that two jailers tested positive for the virus. Instead of providing protective measures to prevent the virus from spreading, the IPS took punitive measures against the prisoners like preventing them from having cleaning supplies.

During the same month, four prisoners went to quarantine in the Ramleh jail “clinic” as they were suspected of having the virus. An Israeli interrogator at Petah Tikva turned out to have the virus. The prisoners stressed that the Israelis did not take any samples from them and that the check-ups were limited to taking their temperature twice a day.

On the last day of March, Nuriddin Sarsour left Ofer jail to discover that he was positive for the virus, causing chaos and fear among other prisoners, who in turn called on the administration of the military jail to test them all for the virus.

The IPS did not fulfill the prisoners’ demands. It only quarantined the prisoners of section 14 in their cells and sent nine of them to another section without taking any samples for tests.

The IPS had prevented family and lawyers visits, claiming that the decision came as a protective measure.

Meanwhile, the IPS continues to prevent most prisoners from having phone calls with their families.

Related Articles

Back to top button