Israel: Overcrowded jails face detainee surge
Israel’s already overcrowded jails face an influx of thousands of new Palestinian detainees in 2024, according to the New Arab.
The country’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, made the announcement on March 11th, following a meeting of representatives from the ministries of defence and national security.
During the meeting, army and intelligence services presented short and medium-term plans to prepare for such an influx of inmates, which Netanyahu purportedly approved.
The effort comes as increased arrests in the occupied West Bank and besieged Gaza Strip since October 7th, 2023, have seen more than 7,000 Palestinian detained. 3,500 Palestinians have been detained without charge under the ‘Administrative Detention’ system, doubling the pre-October 7th figure.
On October 7th, Palestinian Hamas fighters attacked southern Israel and killed over 1,200 people, according to official Israeli figures. In Israel’s retaliatory bombardment and invasion of the enclave, the Hamas-run Gaza Health Ministry estimates more than 31,000 Palestinians to have been killed thus far.
READ: Jordan warns of regional war if Gaza killing continues
A source at the Palestinian Addameer prisoner support association told the New Arab that “what we have documented from released detainees’ testimonies indicates that jails are very overcrowded, with cells made for five to eight inmates containing up to twelve at the same time.”
“There is a severe lack of clothes, and our documented testimonies suggest that some detainees haven’t changed their clothes for months; some haven’t seen sunlight for weeks,” they added.
On March 7th, Israel’s Daily Haaretz reported that 27 Palestinian detainees had died in Israeli detention since the outbreak of the Israel-Gaza war, and that those released have reported beatings and other forms of abuse while in custody.
The latest death was 22-year-old Asef Refai, who died of cancer in late February and whose family have accused Israeli authorities of medical neglect.
The New Arab / Haaretz
