While the whole world is celebrating the joys of Eid al-Adha, for thousands of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, this festival has turned into another long night of pain, hunger, and loneliness.
According to media reports, more than 9,400 Palestinian prisoners are observing Eid this time under conditions where their smiles, their loved ones, and even their basic human dignity have been taken away from them. A few years ago, Palestinian prisoners in jails would still try to find small moments of happiness during Eid. Despite limited resources, they would decorate their barracks with colorful paper and pieces of cloth, wear their best clothes, and prepare small sweets to bring smiles to each other’s faces.
But after October 7, 2023, everything changed. Now, the same Eid has become a symbol of mental and physical torment for them.
For nearly three years, prisoners have not been allowed to meet their families. Mothers whose eyes long to see their sons, and children who had hoped to embrace their fathers, are all still waiting. Family visits were not just meetings; they were a source of strength and hope for the prisoners to keep living. Through those visits, clothes, blankets, and small amounts of food would reach them.
Now, even the prison canteens have been shut down, and the prisoners are struggling for even their most basic necessities.
According to the report, prisoners in the jails are continuously being subjected to inhumane treatment. They are handcuffed, thrown onto the ground for hours, beaten, and sprayed with gas. Even when injured, they are denied medical treatment. From morning until late at night, even their mattresses and blankets are taken away from them.
The condition of female prisoners has also been described as extremely distressing. They are facing beatings, verbal abuse, gas attacks, and solitary confinement. Amid hunger, overcrowding, and humiliation, they are being forced to endure each day.
The prison administration is reportedly using hunger as a weapon so that prisoners’ bodies grow weaker and illnesses continue to spread. Due to the lack of medical care, even minor illnesses are becoming serious. A contagious disease like scabies has spread among thousands of prisoners. Many inmates have been suffering for months from boils, wounds, and infections.
The Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies has appealed to the international community to immediately intervene in order to save Palestinian prisoners from these inhumane conditions and to stop the alleged abuses taking place in Israeli prisons.
Israel is currently holding more than 9,400 Palestinian prisoners in prisons and detention camps. Among them are 86 women and 3,376 people being held under administrative detention. Meanwhile, 1,283 prisoners have been classified as ‘unlawful combatants,’ which the report describes as a legal framework that promotes arbitrary detention and enforced disappearances.