Hamas: Prisoners’ determination unyielding, freedom approaches

OCCUPIED JERUSALEM  (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, affirmed that the escalation of the Israeli prison administration’s “aggressive and criminal policies against our brave prisoners will not weaken their determination, but rather it will be a catalyst for further explosions against the occupation.”

In a press statement on Friday, the Movement emphasized that the Palestinian people will not allow their prisoners to become victims of the “Nazi-like brutality of the occupation, and our resistance will remain committed to achieving their imminent freedom.”

The Movement stated that the testimonies and evidence of the mistreatment and torture suffered by the captive leader Ibrahim Hamed and his fellow prisoners, in addition to the isolation and repression still endured by the captive leaders of the Movement in prisons, which has led to the martyrdom of several prisoners, indicate that the occupation government adopts a policy of deliberate attacks against the brave prisoners.”

The Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners Society held the Israeli occupation prisons fully responsible for the fate and life of leader Ibrahim Hamed, 59 years old, from the town of Silwad, northeast of Ramallah in the West Bank, in light of preliminary testimony provided by a released prisoner from Gilboa prison, who reported that the prisoner Hamed was subjected to terrifying acts of torture and abuse.

In a joint statement on Friday, the authority and the society stated that the horrifying details endured by prisoner Hamed are among many testimonies documented by institutions and heard from released prisoners since October 7, continuing until today, more than seven months after the genocidal war that reflected an unprecedented level of brutality. Such practices resulted in the martyrdom of at least 18 prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons and detention camps, not to mention detainees from Gaza who were martyred inside the army camps, and the occupation continues to refuse to disclose their identities.

The statement considered what happened to prisoner Hamed as an attempted murder, as has happened to thousands of prisoners over the past period. It emphasized that time plays a decisive role in the fate of prisoners due to the dangerous and terrifying measures that the prison administration continues to implement against them, including torture and starvation.

One of the recently released prisoners stated in his testimony, “Prisoner Hamed was subjected to an assault in Gilbo’a prison, and there is no part of his body without bruises, scratches, or wounds. He was bleeding heavily from his head, and after the assault, he was left unable to stand on his feet, and his health condition is very critical.” He added, “No matter how I try to describe the condition in which I left prisoner Hamed, I cannot fully describe the current situation. He is in an extremely difficult condition, and there is a great danger to his life and the lives of prisoners due to the brutal beating they are subjected to in Gilboa prison.”

Prisoner Hamed was born in 1965 in the town of Silwad, Ramallah, where he began his resistance against the occupation at an early age. He has been arrested multiple times before his latest arrest in 2006. The occupation sentenced him to 54 life sentences, the second highest sentence in the history of the prisoner movement.

After completing his high school education, Hamed joined Birzeit University and obtained a bachelor’s degree in political science. Later, he pursued a master’s degree in international relations and worked in research centers, where he was able to publish several studies and research papers on the history of the Palestinian issue.

He was chased for eight years, during which his family faced various forms of persecution and threats, and all members of his family were subjected to arrest, including his wife and children at the time. Hamed endured solitary confinement for nearly eight years, seven of which were consecutive.

Hamas called on international and human rights organizations to fulfill their responsibilities regarding the slow death endured by the Palestinian prisoners inside the occupation’s prisons, and the violations of all international conventions and norms, especially those stipulated in the Geneva Convention concerning prisoners of war.

It called upon the masses of the Palestinian people, their factions, and their rebellious youth to escalate their revolutionary and resistance movement in support of the prisoners, in all fields and by all means.

The Movement warned the fascist occupation government of the dangers of continuing this criminal policy, holding it fully responsible for the lives of every prisoner in its prisons.