The Israeli authorities in the notorious Negev Prison have been imposing regular “retaliation” punishments against Palestinian prisoners since 7 October, the Palestinian Commission of Prisoners’ Affairs said yesterday.

The punishments include “severe beatings and insults.” What it described as “medical negligence” has, it is alleged, led to an outbreak of respiratory, skin, digestive, bacterial and fungal diseases, with a corresponding lack of the minimum requirements for hygiene and the deprivation of adequate food and treatment.
According to prisoners’ testimonies, the food provided by the prison is poor in terms of quantity and quality. A meal provided for ten prisoners is barely enough for one person, while the food quality is poor and is often cold and has a bad smell, leading many prisoners to lose a lot of weight.
The prisoners accused the prison of adopting a policy of “slow death” against them represented by gross and deliberate medical negligence where there is no treatment or examinations, as well as deprivation of breaks and a canteen.
“Visits from lawyers have been limited and are carried out according to certain conditions with difficulty, since [7 October],” explained the Commission. “The prisoners have not changed their clothes since then, and family visits and communications by phone are forbidden.”
The Commission held Israel and its prison administration fully responsible for the prisoners’ lives, and called on human rights groups and the international community to take immediate action to put pressure on Israel and oblige it to abide by international law.
Earlier this week, the Israeli prison authorities in Raman and Nafha Prisons told lawyers that scheduled visits to prisoners had been cancelled on the pretext that a quarantine has been imposed due to the spread of scabies among inmates.
“This is as a result of the retaliatory measures imposed by the prison authorities on the prisoners and detainees since 7 October, which fall within the systematic torture and abuse of prisoners which are one aspect of the ongoing genocide against our people in Gaza,” the Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club pointed out in a joint statement.