Palestinian prisoners face slow death from freezing temperatures in Israeli jails

Head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Committee, Issa Qaraqe, has confirmed that Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are facing “very difficult” conditions because they are denied proper clothes and cover for the extreme winter weather, Qudsnet reported.

“The Israeli occupation is using the extremely cold weather to kill the Palestinian prisoners as its interrogators expose them to the cold weather in order to extract confessions,” he said.

Qaraqe said that the Israeli Prisons’ Services categorically refused to allow clothes and covers for the prisoners; they have instead obliged them to buy only light covers from prisons’ canteens for high prices.

On the measures to sort out the problem, Qaraqe said that his committee met the International Red Cross, who attempted to send the needed clothes and covers for the prisoners, but the Israeli authorities refused.

He said that his committee had also raised the issue with the Israeli Supreme Court, which overturned their complaint claiming the Israeli Prisons’ Services had provided all the needs.

According to Qaraqe the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails has increased from 4,000 to 7,000 due to the extensive campaigns of arrest conducted in the last six months.

Qaraqe said that the Israeli prisons, where the Palestinians are held, are not equipped with central heating system and this has caused many health problems for the prisoners.

He called for the international bodies concerned with this issue to urgently intervene in order to save the lives of the prisoners by putting pressure on the Israeli authorities to deal with the Palestinian prisoners with respect and apply international standards of detention standards toward them.