Ramallah: occupation forces arrested 615 citizens from the occupied Palestinian territories in July 2019, including 93 minors and 9 females.
Detainees' institutions and Human Rights Organizations (the Commission of Detainees and Ex-detainees' Affairs, the Palestinian Society Prisoner's Club, Al Dameer Association for Human Rights) pointed out that the occupation authorities arrested 266 citizens from Jerusalem, 76 from Ramallah, 75 from Hebron, 54 from Jenin, 33 from Bethlehem, 39 from Nablus, 17 from Tulkarem, 21 from Qalqylia, 7 from Tubas, 6 from Salfit, 8 from Jericho and 13 from Gaza Strip.
Thus, the number of detainees in Israeli jails becomes 5700, including 37 females, 230 minors and 500 administrative detainees, while 100 new administrative detention orders have been issued last month.
The most prominent policies and measures practiced by the occupation authorities in July:
The Martyr Nassar Taqatqa who was subjected to medical negligence, before being the martyr number 220
On July 16, 2019, the administration of occupation prisons announced the martyrdom of the detainee Nassar Majed Omar Taqatqa, 31, from Bethlehem in Nitzan Al-Ramlah prison.
Since the date of his arrest he was subjected to harsh interrogation and bad detention conditions by interrogators and jailors, in addition to frequent transfers at interrogation centers. He had serious deterioration on his health, according to testimonies of his fellow detainees.
According to information given to the detainees' institutions after his martyrdom, Taqatqa was exposed to torture and medical negligence during interrogation. At the beginning of his detention, he was held at Al-Maskoubya interrogation center, and then he got transferred Jalamah prison and then to Megiddo prison, where he got beaten by jailors.
According to the results of the autopsy conducted for the body of the martyr Taqatqa, the direct cause of death has been shown to be caused by acute pneumonia. This confirms that he was subjected to medical negligence, deprivation of proper treatment and difficult conditions during interrogation. He martyred facing his disease alone in his cell.
The Israeli occupation authorities still retain the body of the martyr Taqatqa, continuing in its arbitrary policy which is practiced against detainees during their detention and even after their death. The occupation authorities still retaining 44 martyrs' bodies.
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees' Affairs considers this act against Tqatqa is crime against detainees and a kind of torture which is prohibited by all International laws and conventions.
Minors are not secluded of detention
Palestinian children in Israeli prisons suffer from harsh and inhumane conditions of detention, which lack minimum international standards for children's and prisoners' rights. They also suffer from medical neglect, lack of health care, lack of clothing and poor food. They are deprived of family visits, and they are held in prisons with mature and criminal Israelis. In addition, they are also subjected to verbal abuse, beatings, isolation, collective punishment, and high fines.
The occupation authorities continue targeting Palestinian children by arrest and summon, where more than 90 cases have been documented during July, raising the number of minor detainees to 230. They are distributed among Ofer, Megiddo and Damoun prisons, and many of them are held in detention centers. High fines are imposed on them which reached to tens of thousands of shekels.
In a dangerous precedent that exceeded all humanitarian and legal standards, the Israeli authorities summoned the father of the child Mohammed Rabi 'Olayan (4 years) from Issawiya to interrogate him, and the father of the child Qais Firas Obeid (6 years) from the same town, to investigate the charges of throwing stones at Israeli Police vehicles.
The battle of administrative detention is continuous… 22 detainees entered an open hunger strike in July
22 detainees entered an open hunger strike in July in a protest against the policy of administrative detention for 500 detainees.
The majority of those who entered a hunger strike are ex-detainees who served many years under the administrative detention. 6 of them still on the strike which began in July, including the detainee Huthayfa Halabya who entered the strike since 37 days, Ahmad Ghannam since 24 days, Sultan Khlouf since 14 days, Wajdi Awawdeh since 9 days and Tareq Qaadan since 7 days.
The detainee Huthayfa Halabya,, confronting the strike since 37 days
Huthayfa is from Abu Dees town. He's in the 37th day of strike at Nitzan- Al Ramla prison. His health has been deteriorated since he refuses to have medical examinations and supplements and depends only on water. It is worth mentioning that he is arrested since 10/6/2018. He has cancer and he suffered from severe burns in his body when he was a child.
Many detainees have ended their strike in July after having an agreement with the prosecution to determine the period of their detention. A case in point is the detainee Jafar Ezz-Aldeen who entered a strike for 39 days against administrative detention, and the detainee Ahmad Zahran who ended his strike after 34 days.
However, the administration of prisons performed a series of systematic measures against detainees on hunger strike represented in isolating detainees in cells unfit for human life, deprivation of family visits, obstructing lawyers' visits and the frequent transfer from one prison to another.
Other than that, jailors try to provoke them by providing food for detainees on hunger strike, and they deliberately eat it in front of them.
In support of the detainees on hunger strike, detainees from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine went on strike, where 20 detainees from Negev prison entered a hunger strike for a week