Palestinians, Israeli forces clash at Prisoners Day rally

Palestinian protesters, marking Prisoners Day, have clashed with the Israeli regime forces near the notorious Ofer military prison next to the West Bank village of Betunia.

Thursday's clashes near the city of Ramallah came during a rally organized by Palestinian university students to pledge solidarity with inmates held captive in Israeli jails.

Israeli soldiers fired gas canisters to disperse the Palestinian protesters, some of whom responded by using slingshot to hurl stones at the Israelis.

Various Palestinian political factions have censured the Tel Aviv regime’s "aggressive policies" against Palestinians held captive in Israeli jails, a week after the death of a 22-year-old inmate identified as Jaafar Ibrahim Awad, due to pre-existing health complications.

In a joint statement issued on Thursday, resistance groups of Hamas and Islamic Jihad as well as the Palestinian Prisoners' Society said that conditions within the Israeli prisons were growing increasingly difficult for the detainees, pointing to the growing number of ailing inmates who are denied medical care.

The statement further added that the Israeli regime is using "dangerous policies" in efforts to weaken the spirits of prisoners, blaming Tel Aviv for the demise of Awad. It also slammed the silence of international rights groups vis-a-vis the fate of Palestinian prisoners.

Meanwhile, Prisoners' rights group, Addammer, has reported extensive use of state-complicit torture, isolation, and denial of family visits among other abuses carried out by the Israeli Prison Service.

More than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in some 17 Israeli jails, dozens of whom are serving multiple life sentences.

About 540 Palestinians are also being held without trial under the so-called administrative detention, which is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians for up to six months. The detention order can be renewed for indefinite periods of time.

MFB/KA/SS

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