183 Palestinian detainees set to be freed as rights group calls occupation prisons ‘graves for the living
GAZA – The Zionist occupation is set to release 183 Palestinian detainees on Saturday as part of the Gaza ceasefire agreement, including 111 from the Gaza Strip, 18 serving life sentences, and 54 with long-term sentences, WAFA reported, citing the Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).
According to an Anadolu agency correspondent, members of Al-Qassam Brigades have been deployed in Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip in preparation for the handover of three captives to the International Red Cross Committee.
As per the agreement, after Saturday’s captives for prisoners’ release, the occupation forces are supposed to withdraw completely from the Netzarim Corridor and allow free movement back and forth between the southern and northern parts of the Strip.
Last week, a Geneva-based rights group called the occupation’s prisons “graves for the living,” citing the worsening health conditions of released Palestinian detainees.
“The majority (of prisoners) appeared to be in a serious state of decline, with each of them losing several kilograms of weight due to what appears to be intentional starvation,” the rights group said.
“Many of the inmates and detainees required immediate hospital transfers for critical medical examinations. One in particular seemed incapable of recognizing his future after being denied treatment while in custody.”
“The poor health of Palestinian detainees and prisoners released by Israel as part of the ceasefire agreements in the Gaza Strip reflects the terrible conditions they endured while in custody, including torture, mistreatment, and degrading abuses that persisted until the very last minute,” the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Monitor said in a statement.
“Until the final moments before their release, most of the detainees endured psychological torture in addition to mistreatment and beatings,” the statement added.
The rights group said the occupation practices constitute “a blatant violation of human rights and the rights of prisoners and detainees guaranteed by international law because they mirror the abuse, humiliation, starvation, and systematic torture that they endured both during their detention and after being released.”
The violations “extended beyond subpar detention conditions and turned into a systematic policy of retaliation against all Palestinian prisoners and detainees,” it added.
“Detainees were subjected to severe torture, intentional starvation, and prolonged solitary confinement as part of punitive measures that ramped up brutally after the events in the Gaza Strip in an attempt to punish them for nothing more than the fact that they were Palestinians.”
The Gaza ceasefire agreement halted the Zionist occupation’s genocidal war that claimed the lives of 47,583 Palestinians and injured 111,633, according to the enclave’s Health Ministry. The Government Media Office has updated the toll of martyrs to at least 61,709 people, saying thousands of those previously missing under the rubble are now presumed martyred.
