Palestinian inmates enter 21st day of protest against arbitrary detention by Israel

Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli jails have pressed ahead for the 21st consecutive day with their collective disobedience against the regime’s prison authorities and the implementation of abusive measures by far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir.

Palestinian media report said on Monday that the prisoners refused their meals and to declare a state of night alert in all Israeli jails at 10:00 p.m.

The civil disobedience actions by the prisoners include the closing of the different prison sections, stopping aspects of daily life, the wearing of a mandatory brown jail uniform, and refusing to undergo the so-called daily security check-up.

The Supreme Emergency Committee for Palestinian Prisoners Affairs announced in a statement on February 14 the beginning of civil disobedience in response to an ongoing repression campaign initiated by Ben-Gvir and Israeli prison authorities. The committee said the civil disobedience measures would escalate to an open-ended hunger strike beginning on the first day of the upcoming fasting month of Ramadan.

The protest steps were in rejection of the punitive Israeli measures imposed against the prisoners since Ben-Gvir was sworn in as Israeli minister of "security" last week, as part of the regime’s new far-right cabinet, led by Benjamin Netanyahu.

Ben-Gvir introduced his repression campaign against Palestinian prisoners on January 8, which included controlling the amount of water and reducing the hours of using the bathrooms designated for showering, among other abusive measures.

The extremist minister also ordered the Israel Prison Service (IPS) to start moving political Palestinian inmates and transferring them between the prisons, most of which lack sufficient health equipment.

Palestinian prisoners launch mass hunger strike after prisoner's death

Palestinian prisoners have started a hunger strike in all Israeli prisons in protest of the martyrdom of Abu Ali due to deliberate medical negligence.

Under Ben-Gvir’s instruction, approximately 140 Palestinian prisoners were transferred to Nafha prison, which is notorious for terrible living conditions and referred to by inmates as "inhumane.”

Separately, Addameer Prisoner Support said in a statement on Monday there are at least 29 Palestinian female prisoners currently languishing in Israeli jails under harsh conditions and are subject to a systematic policy of medical negligence.

The human rights organization said among the 29 female prisoners, 13 have received varying sentences, the highest of which was issued against two 16-year-old teenagers. Seven female prisoners are injured, and 15 are suffering from various critical health issues.

The rights group said 15 female prisoners are still held under pre-trial detention and are awaiting their hearings in Israeli courts.

The statement came on the occasion of International Women's Day (IWD), which falls annually on March 8.

There are reportedly more than 7,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Hundreds of the inmates have been apparently incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention.

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