Urgent Message from Prisoner Institutions Demands Immediate Resumption of Visits to Prisons

SadaNews - The Al-Dameer Association for Prisoner Care and Human Rights, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, and the Global Movement for the Defense of Children – Palestine have sent an urgent message to Mrs. Miriana Spoljaric Eger, President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), demanding an immediate resumption of visits to Israeli prisons where Palestinian prisoners are held.

The institutions emphasized in their message the dangerous and deteriorating conditions of Palestinian prisoners over the past two years, which include systematic starvation, deliberate medical neglect, physical and psychological torture, rape and sexual violence, and deprivation of basic rights guaranteed under international humanitarian law and international human rights law. These crimes have led to the martyrdom of no less than eighty (80) Palestinian prisoners while in custody of the Israeli occupation authorities.

The institutions called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to urgently send medical teams to assess and monitor the health of the prisoners, noting that many of the prisoners suffer from chronic illnesses, untreated injuries, and severe effects of starvation and torture. They also demanded that the Red Cross pressure the occupying authorities to provide urgent and necessary medical care for all Palestinian prisoners according to international standards.

The message also confirmed that all detained Israelis have been released, which means there is no longer a justification for the occupying authorities to prevent the Red Cross from visiting Palestinian prisoners. The institutions alerted that the occupying authorities continue to hold the bodies of hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in the Gaza Strip, in addition to (88) prisoners known to be awaiting the release of their bodies, 77 of whom were killed after the onset of the genocide in Gaza. They called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene urgently to ensure the return of these bodies to their families without any delay.

The institutions clarified that the humanitarian situation for Palestinian prisoners has become critical and continuously threatens their lives, and that intervention by the International Committee of the Red Cross is essential and urgent to protect their rights, dignity, and lives.

The institutions concluded their message by urging the International Committee of the Red Cross to take swift and effective measures to resume regular visit programs without any obstacles, and to publicly call on the occupation to comply with its legal obligations towards female prisoners and Palestinian prisoners.