The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reported on Wednesday that special forces of the Israeli Prisons Administration stormed several sections of the Negev prison in southern Israel.
The raid targeted Palestinian prisoners associated with the Islamic Jihad resistance movement — which was also the main target of Israel’s recent bombardment of the Gaza Strip. That three-day long aerial bombardment campaign targeted a number of leaders of the Islamic Jihad movement, but did so by dropping hundreds of missiles, killing 43 people (only 11 of whom were associated with Islamic Jihad). 15 of those killed in the three-day long bombardment were children, including babies and kids under age 5.
In the prison raid on Wednesday, the Israeli special forces locked down the prisoners in their cells and cut off their electricity.
This comes after a large-scale hunger strike began in the prison on Monday, with many of the 1,400 Palestinian prisoners in the Negev prison refusing to eat and refusing to participate in security checks.
The prisoner hunger strike is in solidarity with the long-term hunger striker, Mohammad …, who has been hospitalized due to the severity of his condition. He is demanding an end to the Israeli practice of administrative detention — holding prisoners without charges.
Amani Farrahna, the media officer in the Prisoners Club, said in an interview with Anadolu News Agency that “a state of extreme tension prevails among the prisoners in the Negev prison, which is the largest Israeli prison.”
The Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a statement published on Wednesday, that “the prisoners continue to implement their strike, which began on Monday, to rebel against the Israeli which is to refrain from going out to the so-called security check, and to return the meals.”
The prisoners protest against the prison administrations’ intention to “impose measures to restrict detainees sentenced to life imprisonment through repeated transfers from the rooms, sections, and prisons in which they are held.”
The number of Palestinian prisoners currently held in Israeli prisons is about 4,550.
