Mahmoud Barakat
22 January 2019•Update: 22 January 2019
By Qays Abu Samra
RAMALLAH, Palestine
Tension has prevailed in all Israeli prisons following a recent assault by prison guards on Palestinian inmates at the Israel-run Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank, a Palestinian official said on Tuesday.
“Detainees in the Ofer Prison rejected their meals on Monday and Tuesday morning,” Qadri Abu Bakr, head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, told Anadolu Agency.
He accused the Israeli authorities of trying to break the spirit of the Palestinian detainees by assaulting them.
“The Palestinian Authority is in contact with international and human rights groups to stop the ‘Israeli crime’,” he said.
On Monday, members of Israel’s special Metsada Force stormed a section of the prison where they attacked Palestinian inmates with teargas and damaged their property.
More than 100 Palestinian detainees were injured in the assault in the Ofer prison on Monday.
Currently home to an estimated 1,200 Palestinian inmates, the Ofer Prison is located southwest of the West Bank city of Ramallah, the Palestinian Authority’s administrative capital.
According to Palestinian figures, more than 6,000 Palestinians -- including dozens of women, scores of minors and six lawmakers -- are currently being held in Israeli prisons.
