MIDDLE EAST

Palestinians say 14 prisoners held by Israel in "harsh conditions"

14 prisoners held in solitary confinement in Israel’s Negev prison

Six prisoners had tunneled out of the high-security Gilboa prison in northern Israel on Sept. 6, but were rearrested by Israeli forces a week later. Illustration

H. J. I. / AA

Fourteen Palestinian inmates have been held in solitary confinement in Israel’s Negev prison, a Palestinian commission said on Wednesday.

- The Negev Prison Administration isolates 14 prisoners in Section 6, under difficult and harsh conditions - the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)’s Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said in a statement.

The commission said the prisoners are held in a section “that was burned by the detainees a month ago in response to Israeli abuses of detainees” in the wake of last month’s jailbreak.

Six prisoners had tunneled out of the high-security Gilboa prison in northern Israel on Sept. 6, but were rearrested by Israeli forces a week later.

The commission said the prison administration "doesn’t provide the prisoners with any clothes except what they wear, and prevent them from going to the clinic for medical examinations."

As a result of the current conditions, some of the prisoners "began to suffer from skin diseases, joint pain, backache and kidney aches," it said.

Meanwhile, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA said that Israeli forces rounded up 20 Palestinians on Wednesday in raids across the occupied West Bank.

Israel detains about 4,850 Palestinians in 23 prisons and detention centers, including 41 female prisoners, 225 children, and 520 administrative detainees.