DaysofPal- A quiet demonstration held Tuesday outside the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) office in western Gaza City aimed to alert the international community to the gradual death faced by Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.
During the protest, former prisoner Nabil al-Jabri lay on the ground wrapped in a white burial shroud, a stark image intended to convey the worsening conditions and life-threatening treatment prisoners endure in detention.
The action took place as part of a weekly sit-in organized by detainees’ families, who warned that prisons could become “collective graves” without swift international intervention.
Al-Jabri placed a sword and a staff beside the shroud, symbols he said represented the struggle for freedom and the need for a firm global stance to protect prisoners’ dignity.
He urged international bodies and human rights organizations to meet their legal and moral obligations and press Israel to free detainees.
Speaking to reporters, al-Jabri, released on October 13 after 21 months in detention, said prisoners face severe abuses, including medical neglect, physical assaults, denial of treatment, and restrictions on visits by lawyers and family members.
He said these practices are occurring openly, amid international silence that amounts to complicity.
Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups report that 86 detainees have died in Israeli custody since October 7, 2023, due to assaults and other abuses, with 32 deaths recorded in the past year alone.
Dozens of detainees from Gaza are reportedly subjected to enforced disappearance, while Israel continues to retain the bodies of 94 deceased prisoners, including 83 who died after the war on Gaza began.
Rights groups say the overall number of deaths in custody has exceeded 100 in just over two years, indicating an unprecedented scale of systematic abuse.
The protest drew dozens of prisoners’ relatives, former detainees, community figures, and representatives of support organizations, who gathered outside the Red Cross office carrying Palestinian flags, photographs of prisoner movement leaders, and banners demanding detainees’ release.
Chants called for freedom and challenged the ongoing silence of the international community.
In a statement on behalf of the Prisoners’ Committee of the National and Islamic Forces, Nashat al-Wuhaidi said approximately 9,400 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including 50 women, nearly 400 children, and 116 serving life sentences.
He added that 323 prisoners have died in custody since the beginning of the Palestinian struggle, and that 22 prisoners with serious illnesses are being held under harsh conditions at Ramla Prison Hospital.
Al-Wuhaidi also cautioned against escalating racist and inciting rhetoric by Israeli ministers and the increasing risks posed by laws and measures targeting prisoners.
He called on the ICRC to end its silence and take tangible steps to uphold international humanitarian law.
Community leader Nabil Abu Sariya described prison conditions as “organized crimes” carried out with direct political support, citing medical neglect, solitary confinement, starvation, exposure to extreme cold, and enforced disappearance.
He said detention facilities have effectively become “cemeteries for the living,” while basic human rights go unprotected.
During the vigil, child Fajr Mahdi spoke about her family’s suffering as her father, detained physician Raed Mahdi, remains imprisoned without information about his condition and without visitation rights.
She appealed for his release and for the freedom of all detainees.
Former detainee Ahmed Abu Ras, speaking on behalf of released prisoners, said the protest was an expression of solidarity with those still imprisoned and an effort to expose the Israeli violations and international double standards toward Palestinian prisoners.
Participants concluded by reaffirming that the prisoners’ issue remains central to the Palestinian national cause, stressing that detainees’ dignity is inseparable from that of the Palestinian people and calling for immediate international action before it is too late.
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