Palestinian detainee stabs prison guard as Israel bans family visits

The Ofer prison administration cancelled family visits for Palestinian prisoners at Ofer today, confirmed the Prisoners and Editors Affairs Authority.

Located near Ramallah in the occupied West Bank, the cancellation came after the Israel Prison Services (IPS) claimed a Palestinian prisoner wounded a prison guard.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said in a statement that a state of extreme tension “prevails in Ofer prison, after the Israeli Prison Administration claimed that a prisoner stabbed a guard in Section (12)”.

Amani Al-Sarahna, media official in the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club told Al-Araby Al-Jadeed the wound was inflicted by a “sharp object”, and then all sections of the prison were closed by the prison administration.

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According to Israeli daily Yedioth Ahronoth, the guard was referred to hospital for treatment after suffering minor injuries to the neck.

Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners in several Israeli jails including Nafha Prison in the Negev, and the Israeli Damon prison, located near Haifa, launched a two-hour strike today; refusing to take meals in protest against the harsh way IPS treats imprisoned women and minors in detention, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa has reported.

According to Al-Ain News, since their transfer from Ofer Prison, the Palestinian minors in Damon Prison, suffer from continuous repression and abuse by the prisoners, and the occupation deprives them of their basic rights to treatment and food.

Only last week, it was revealed by the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club that Palestinian minors being locked up in underground cells which are infected with mice and cockroaches.