WEST BANK (Dispatches) – There is “extreme tension” in the Zionist regime’s prisons amid a growing standoff between officials and Palestinian detainees, a Palestinian NGO said on Friday, Anadolu News Agency reports.
Palestinian prisoners in various Zionist jails kicked off a series of protests this week against persistent mistreatment by officials.
Zionist regime authorities have responded with even harsher steps, including “doubled isolation and removal of electrical devices” from jail cells, according to the Palestinian Prisoner Society.
Additional personnel have also been called in at different prisons, the group said in a statement.
In retaliation, Palestinians have decided to disband all their different “factions” in the regime’s jails from Sunday, forcing officials to deal with each prisoner separately.
Throughout this week, detainees have refused to take part in daily security checks, returned their meals and organized sit-ins in prison yards.
They say the Zionist regime’s authorities renege on understandings reached after previous protests in March.
Palestinians cite arbitrary transfer of detainees, particularly female prisoners, as one of the abuses by Zionist regime officials.
According to Palestinian figures, there are nearly 4,550 Palestinian detainees in the regime’s jails, including 175 minors and 27 female detainees, along with 670 detainees held under the regime’s so-called administrative detention without charge or trial.
For years, Palestinians jailed by the Zionist regime have used hunger strikes to demand better living conditions and an end to indefinite detentions.
Meanwhile, a Palestinian prisoner, who has been staging a hunger strike for over 160 days in protest at his illegal detention by the Zionist regime, could die any moment, his lawyer has said.
Khalil Awawda, a 40-year-old father of four, has been arrested five times since 2005 for political activism, and has been placed in “administrative detention” three times ever since.
Under the policy, which has been practiced by the occupying regime for decades, Palestinian prisoners are held for lengthy renewable periods of time without being charged, tried, or convicted.
Awawda initially staged a 111-day hunger strike, which he suspended in light of an Israeli promise to release him. He resumed the protest action when the regime’s prison officials reneged on their promise to let him go free.