GAZA,(The Palestine Foundation Pakistan)Lina al-Tawil, director of the Palestinian Center for Prisoners’ Advocacy, said that Israeli prison service (IPS) prevents the entry of blankets and winter clothing to thousands of Palestinian detainees for the third consecutive year.
“Prisoners from Gaza are the most affected by this policy, especially those arrested after October 7, 2023,” Tawil said in a statement on Sunday, noting that those detainees from Gaza had received only one set of prison clothes, a shirt and trousers, since they were kidnaped from the Strip.
Tawil also pointed out that most of the Israeli prisons are located in desert areas, which makes winter harsher and worsens the humanitarian situation inside them, particularly for sick prisoners who suffer from the cold and face serious complications due to the lack of protective and heating means.
Tawil highlighted the spread of infectious diseases among Palestinian prisoners during the winter, attributing it to overcrowded cells and the sharing of personal items, describing such harsh incarceration conditions as a “formula used by the Israeli authorities to increase the number of sick detainees.”
She urged international organizations, especially the International Committee of the Red Cross, to take swift action to address what she called “this critical crisis” in Israeli jails and to pressure the Israeli authorities to end the suffering it deliberately inflicts on Palestinian prisoners.
