Israeli occupation forces raid Ofer Prison, assault Palestinian detainees

WEST BANK, Feb. 17 (YPA) – Israeli occupation forces attacked Palestinian prisoners in Ofer military prison in the occupied West Bank after storming their cells, a Palestinian media office said Sunday.

“Prisoners were beaten and sprayed with gas,” the Hamas-run Prisoners Media Office said in a statement.

For its part, the Israeli occupation’s prison service claimed in a statement that “security detainees” had been banging on their cell doors and noted that the incident was still ongoing.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society have held the Israeli prison administration fully responsible for the safety of thousands of detainees in Ofer Prison. This comes in response to a large-scale crackdown carried out by the Israeli authorities inside the prison.

In a joint statement issued on Sunday evening, the two organizations called on the international human rights community to take immediate action against the systematic crimes committed by the Israeli prison authorities. These include torture, medical neglect, starvation, and repeated violent raids, which are used as deliberate policies to oppress and abuse detainees.

@E.Y.M