Israeli occupation arrests more than 3,300 Palestinians since Coronavirus began

SANAA, Dec. 17 (YPA) – The Palestinian Prisoner’s Club said that the Israeli occupation authorities have arrested more than 3,300 Palestinian prisoners since the outbreak of the coronavirus (COVID-19) began last March.

The arrest campaigns included children, women, the elderly, the sick and the wounded, the Club said in a statement on Wednesday.

The statement stressed that the occupation used the epidemic as a tool of repression and violence against prisoners.

Although casualties have increased, particularly in November, the occupation continued systematic daily arrests, accompanied by violence, repression and intimidation against detainees and their families.

The “Prisoner’s Club” said that the highest percentage of arrests was in June, where the number of arrests reached 469, pointing out that since last April, about 140 cases of Covid-19 have been recorded among the prisoners.

The obstruction of visits by lawyers to prisoners, which were suspended for a period at the beginning of the epidemic, was further hampered and resumed under specific restrictions, placing the prisoners in double isolation, posing a double risk to their fate, as there were still serious fears that the epidemic could spread more widely, particularly after the last November of The Gilboa prison.