Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails take action against unjust punitive measures

Palestinian prisoners in the notorious Nafha jail located in the southeast Negev desert started on Tuesday measures in response to the Israeli Prison Service’s (IPS) decision to carry out unjust and inhumane punitive measures against them, including controlling the amount of water used in the jail and reducing access to bathrooms.

The IPS measures were taken upon orders from far-right security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The prisoners in Nafha prison stopped taking part in the daily activities imposed on them by the IPS and obstructed the so-called routine security checks.

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said in a joint statement that the Captive Movement’s emergency committee had decided a number of disobedience steps which would be taken in all jails gradually to pressure the IPS to revoke its punitive measures, adding that the last step would be a mass open-ended hunger strike on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan.

For its part, the IPS yesterday threatened prisoners in Gilboa and Megiddo prisons that if they implement the disobedience steps it will tighten measures against them including reducing the amount of time they are allowed to spend outside and withdrawing some of the basic tools they use inside the rooms, such as hot plates.

As many as 4,780 Palestinians are imprisoned in Israeli jails, including 160 children, 29 women and 914 administrative detainees.

READ: Israel moves 70 Palestinian prisoners to isolation in Nafha Prison