Palestinian prisoners in Israel’s Gilboa Prison are ‘living in hell’

The Detainees’ and Ex-detainees’ Affairs Commission said on Thursday that the Palestinian prisoners held in Israel’s Gilboa Prison are “living in hell”, the Palestinian Information Centre has reported. The commission explained its description by quoting its lawyer who was able to visit some detainees in the prison two days ago.

“Israeli jailers at Gilboa Prison target the detainees psychologically through physical and verbal insults,” said the lawyer. He added that beating and cursing have become routine, as has detainees being forced to sit in certain positions during the frequent head-count procedure.

He also pointed out that detainees are forced to kneel on the ground with their hands over their heads and their faces towards the wall, adding that they are forced to walk on lines drawn on the ground when going out for a break.

According to the commission, Palestinian prisoners in Gilboa are completely isolated from the outside world; they are served food poor in quantity and quality; face a severe shortage of clothes and blankets; suffer from the spread of skin diseases; and have to contend with a lack of cleaning materials and disinfectants.

The commission’s lawyer said that the prison is so badly overcrowded that prisoners do not have space to sit or move beyond the edges of their mattresses.

More than 10,800 Palestinians have been arrested in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem since the start of the ongoing Israeli genocide in Gaza last October. Hundreds more have been killed or wounded by the Israeli occupation forces.

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