Prisoners' Club: The Occupation's Introduction of New Weapons to Target Unarmed Prisoners is a Dangerous Escalation

SadaNews - The President of the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, Abdullah Al-Zaghari, stated that "the recent announcement by the occupation authorities about introducing new types of weapons to suppress Palestinian prisoners is a clear indication of a systematic tendency towards escalating tools of repression and violence against unarmed prisoners."

Al-Zaghari said that "this decision falls within the declared and undeclared policies of the occupation, which target the lives of prisoners, exposing them to the risk of immediate or slow death, constituting a gross violation of the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights standards."

He clarified that "the testimonies and accounts that the Prisoners' Club is documenting indicate the introduction of new weapons into prisons, including electric shocks, and the use of new types of rubber bullets during suppression operations."

He pointed out that "these practices represent an extension of the occupation's policy of using the bodies of prisoners as 'testing grounds' for its weapons."

Al-Zaghari stressed that this escalation reflects a recurring pattern of systematic crimes carried out by the prison administration as part of a broader policy aimed at destroying the human structure of prisoners, emphasizing that what is happening today represents an unprecedented escalation in terms of the severity and scope of violations.

Al-Zaghari held the occupation authorities fully responsible for the fate of thousands of prisoners, calling on the international human rights system to take practical and serious steps to hold the occupation accountable for these grave violations, and to apply pressure on the international powers that continue to provide political and military support and direct complicity in the ongoing genocide.

The Prisoners' Club revealed on Friday that the Israeli army has carried out 19,000 arrest operations in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, since it began its genocide war on the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023.

It clarified that "the number of arrests among women has exceeded 585, while over 1,550 cases of arrest among children have been documented."

The Prisoners' Club added that "77 prisoners have died in the occupation's prisons since October 7, including 46 from Gaza detainees."

Palestinian, Israeli, and international human rights centers have repeatedly warned of the severe torture and serious violations faced by Palestinian prisoners in the occupation's prisons, most notably starvation and denial of medical treatment, posing a threat to their lives.