Israeli forces raid Nafha prison, assault Palestinian prisoners

Israeli Prison Services (IPS) forces yesterday raided Nafha prison cells and assaulted Palestinian prisoners, causing injuries among prisoners and damaging their personal belongings, according to the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs.

Head of the committee, Issa Qaraqe, told Ma’an that three Palestinian prisoners were injured as Israeli forces attacked prisoners, “beating them violently and firing tear gas”.

Qaraqe quoted prisoners as saying that the Israeli commander of Nafha prison was injured during the clashes, while the Hebrew language news site of Israel’s Channel 20 reported that Palestinian prisoner Muhammad Dahnoun, who is serving a life sentence, “spilled a hot cup of coffee at the prison commander, but he wasn’t hurt”.

The Palestinian official condemned the raid and described it as “vindictive and savage”, adding that IPS sprayed pepper spray at Palestinian prisoners.

He added that IPS transferred 10 Palestinian prisoners including Al-Dahnoun, who serves as the representative for the prisoners in section 4 of Nafha, to solitary confinement after the prisoners attempted to “break up the Israeli aggression against them”.

An IPS spokesperson was not immediately available for comment.