10 Palestinian prisoners are on hunger strike inside the Israeli Megiddo prison, escalating their protest against overcrowding, denial of personal belongings, electricity cuts, and raids within the prison.
The 10 prisoners were transferred to isolation after they refused their meals, forcibly taken by guards who invaded their cells, beating some of the prisoners. Palestinian prisoners’ clothes and blankets have been confiscated, their rooms repeatedly ransacked by guards engaging in “inspections,” and electricity was cut to an entire section of the prison.
There are 97 child prisoners in section 3 of Megiddo prison, all under 16 years of age.
A state of high tension also prevails in Gilboa prison, reported the Handala Center for Prisoners and Freed Prisonersh, where there are daily raids and inspections of prisoners’ cells and increased restrictions imposed on Palestinian prisoners’ belongings and recreation.
The Handala Center also reported an increasing state of tension in Eshel prison, where prisoners have repeatedly been subject to violent and repressive inspection raids by prison guards, particularly the “Matsada” special units. Family members visiting prisoners in Eshel have undergone humiliating and extensive personal searches, and 15 prisoners were transferred from Eshel to isolation at Ohli Kedar prison. Handala Center reported that prisoners have declared that they will rise up to confront further violent and repressive raids on their cells.
