DaysofPal- The head of Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights in the Gaza Strip, Alaa Skafi, stated that the deaths of five prisoners from Gaza over the past 24 hours in the Israeli jails represent an Israeli systematic policy to execute all the Palestinian prisoners.
The significant and growing number of prisoners who have died in Israeli prisons as a result of torture and cruel treatment, according to Skafi, approves this systematic retaliatory policy.
According to Skafi, retaliatory actions against detainees, especially during the initial phases of detention, involve torture, some of the most severe forms of repression, and continuous abuse.
Instead of providing them with medical attention or transporting them to hospitals, the Israeli Prison Services (IPS) makes the prisoners’ health problems worse by postponing and delaying their hospital transfer until their death.
On Monday, December 30, 2024, Palestinian rights groups reported that four Palestinian inmates from the Gaza Strip had died, bringing the total number of Gaza inmates who have perished in Israeli prisons in the past 24 hours to five martyrs.
The four victims are Muhammad Anwar Labid (57 years old), Zuhair Omar Al-Sharif (58 years old), Samir Mahmoud Al-Kahlout (52 years old), and Muhammad Rashid Al-Akka (44 years old). Furthermore, the prisoner Ashraf Abu Wardah was also proclaimed dead yesterday.
Given that inmates are moved to hospitals just before they pass away, Skafi noted that medical negligence accounts for the majority of mistreatment cases.
He continued by saying that the remarks made by Israel’s extreme security minister, Itamar Ben Gvir, who advocates for the execution of Palestinian prisoners and detainees, unequivocally demonstrate that the administrations of military camps and prisons that carry out the extermination and execution of detainees from the Gaza Strip are receiving special treatment and benefits based on the number of deaths and exterminations they carry out.
Skafi underlined the need for immediate action from the International Committee of the Red Cross, calling on it to assume responsibility for expanding its visits to military camps and prisons to observe the appalling conditions there, particularly in view of the dearth of medical care for inmates and the lack of supervision over the Israeli army and prison administration in carrying out horrifying acts of repression and torture.
In addition, Skaafi demanded that a UN inquiry committee be established to look into the circumstances surrounding the deaths of over 54 detainees since October 7, 2023, based on data that the Israeli occupation forces (IOF) gave to human rights and prisoner organisations.
Skaafi stressed that the IOF has not revealed the names of the martyr detainees, so the true number is higher.
The names they are given on a daily basis are either nonexistent or “released,” and these people are undoubtedly among the martyrs as a result of torture and medical neglect.
Skaafi expressed concern about the possible rise in the number of martyr prisoners, pointing out that information gathered from inside prisons and the Ofer and Negev camps, as well as testimonies from released detainees, expose a policy of severe torture, enforced disappearance, and denial of medical care.
He claimed that, in the absence of national and international oversight, the continued practice of medical neglect will unavoidably result in an increase in the number of martyrs inside the prisons.
This phase is the bloodiest in the history of the prisoners’ movement since 1967, according to human rights organisations, with 54 inmates killed inside Israeli prisons since the start of the current conflict, the highest number ever.
In addition to the fact that hundreds of detainees from Gaza are still being held in occupation army-run camps, the prison administration has acknowledged that there are more than 10,300 prisoners in the occupation’s prisons as of the beginning of December. There are 3,428 administrative detainees, 90 women, and at least 345 children among the inmates.
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