Tel Aviv- A large task-force at the Israel Prison Service (IPS) attacked hundreds of Palestinian prisoners carrying out assaults against them and transferring inmates out of prisons. The wave of attacks will cause unrest potentially leading to a blow-back and the return of protests among prisoners.
The assault were carried out only after the number of prisoners went on a food strike, in solidarity with prisoner Bilal Kayed, who has been fasting for 54 days over his continued detention without trial, Palestinian officials said.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club warned that the prisons in Israel caution a true disaster looming, it also said in a statement that 80 prisoners stopped eating joining 325 who have been fasting for the past two days at various prisons in Israel and the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Authority detainee affairs commission told AFP news agency that inmates are protesting against a prison crackdown this week, in which a number of inmates were placed in solitary confinement, personal belongings were seized and prisoners moved to other facilities.
Spokesperson for the Palestine Prisoners’ Center Riyad al-Ashqar added that the IPS has attempted to stop solidarity and support among hunger-striking prisoners using assault as a means of suppression against prisoners, as well as through raiding sections, confiscating personal belongings, electrical appliances, continuous transfers of prisoners, imposing fines, closing sections and preventing prisoners from receiving visits.
Al-Ashqar called for increased national and international support for the hunger strikers in order to pressure Israel to respond to their demands, and for Israel to end its policy of administrative detention.
Not only that but figures of prisoners on strike are expected to rocket even more as Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) leader Ahmad al-Saadat announced launching a hunger strike on Sunday in support of Kayed, who was initially detained in 2002 for alleged involvement in the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades — the armed wing of the PFLP.