Ramallah: Palestinian detainees face 'catastrophic' conditions in the Gilad camp of Israel's Ofer military prison near the West Bank city of Ramallah, a Palestinian commission said Sunday.
According to Anadolu Agency, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs, citing a lawyer, reported that around 100 to 120 detainees are enduring harsh conditions across 12 rooms in the camp. The prison administration is said to punish detainees with solitary confinement, beatings, and electric shocks. During a visit to the camp, the lawyer found prisoners shackled, blindfolded, and forced to walk with their heads bowed toward the ground.
The detainees are reportedly experiencing severe shortages of clothing and hygiene supplies. Shirts and underwear are changed only once a week, while trousers are replaced only when torn, forcing many to wear the same pair for months. Prisoners shower with cold water outside their rooms, using dishwashing liquid instead of shampoo, during brief morning and evening breaks lasting no more than 20 minutes each.
Regarding food, the prisoners informed the lawyer that meals typically consist only of bread and yogurt, with tuna or sausages served once a week. The prisoners also face difficult sleeping conditions, as their metal beds are covered with thin mattresses, and each inmate receives only one blanket and a towel that is changed infrequently-often replaced with unclean ones.
Some detainees are reportedly forced to sleep on the floor due to the lack of space in the rooms. The shortage of clothing and blankets comes amid very cold weather inside the camp, which has open iron-barred windows allowing wind and rain to enter. The lawyer further stated that Israeli prison officers storm the rooms daily and apply punitive measures for trivial or no reasons at all.
Additional reports indicate that prisoners are forced to kneel during the four daily roll calls, denied sleep after 6 am, and forbidden from staying awake at night. There was no comment from Israeli authorities on the lawyer's statements. More than 10,000 Palestinians, including women and children, are currently held in Israeli prisons, enduring torture, starvation, and medical neglect that has led to the deaths of numerous detainees, according to both Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations.