Ibrahim Jaber, former Palestinian prisoner released in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange, was released on August 12 after being re-arrested last week. He is one of 62 former prisoners released in the exchange who have been re-arrested since June; their release is one of the terms of the Palestinian resistance in relation to a ceasefire in Gaza.

Jaber’s release, however, came as a number of Palestinians were arrested by occupation soldiers throughout Jerusalem and the West Bank late Monday and early Tuesday, August 12; the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reported that Mohammed Zakariya Abu Khdeir and Mahmoud Abu Ta’a, both children, were taken by the soldiers along with Ja’far Yasser Abu Khdeir, Taher Abu Ta’a and Abdul-Karim Abu Ta’a from Beit Hanina and Shu’fat in Jerusalem.

Four Palestinians from Bethlehem area were arrested by occupation soldiers after their homes were invaded and ransacked by the military: Mohammad Shousha, Hamza Shousha, and Wisam Hamamra from Husam, and Mohammad Deriyya, of Beit Fajjar.

In Huwwara near Nablus, occupation soldiers arrested a Palestinian lawyer, Mendi Samir al-Osta, as he travelled from Ramallah to Nablus. al-Osta is a former political prisoner and is one of a number of Palestinian lawyers recently targeted for arrest and persecution, including Shireen Issawi, Palestinian lawyer and the sister of Palestinian prisoner and long-term hunger striker Samer Issawi.

Palestinian lawyers met with 26 Palestinians from Gaza abducted by occupation soldiers during the ground invasion of Gaza on August 12, where they are being held in Ashkelon prison.

A number of Palestinians continue to be unaccounted for following their disappearance during the Israeli assault on Gaza, when a reported over 250 Palestinians were arrested and taken for interrogation by the Shin Bet. Approximately 75 were released near Beit Hanoun; Muhammad Jabarin of Al-Mezan Center told Ma’an News that an additional 15 Palestinians had been held under the “Unlawful Combatant Law” and since released, and that three more Palestinians had been released at Erez crossing on Sunday, but then re-arrested. The law provides for the unlimited detention of Palestinians from Gaza without trial; it provides even fewer protections than administrative detention orders, the mechanism for detention without charge or trial used for Palestinians in the West Bank by the Israeli state.

Ma’an reported: “Mahmoud Abu Rahma, the director of communications for Al-Mezan, told Ma’an that three prisoners were released Sunday but re-arrested at the Erez crossing. He says the lack of access means it is difficult to establish why those named were arrested and how many more are in jail.

Israeli media have hinted that some were released in the Shalit exchange deal in 2011, but Abu Rahma says that the Unlawful Combatants law allows Israeli soldiers to arrest anyone they want until the case is reviewed by an Israeli court.”

On Tuesday, Palestinian lawyer Karim Ajwa reported that Khaled al-Najjar and Issa Najjar, both of Khuza’a in Khan Younis area, reported that they were seerely beaten and humiliated at the hands of occupation soldiers, and that they were taken in mass arrests in the early hours of the morning after numerous homes were destroyed by shelling anf bombing and young people remaining in the homes were rounded up.

The 26 names of detainees released are as follows, although a number of additional prisoners are being held; Ma’an reported that occupation prison spokespeople noted that they are spread out among prisons and that there may be detainees not sent to prisons and still held by the military or the Shin Bet.

1. Afif Al-Jarah
2. Abd Al Rahman Ba’lousheh
3. Hassan Al-Astal
4. Mohammad Al-Agha
5. Ahmad Abu Lahia (the lawyer told him he will be released soon)
6. Ibrahim Abu Lahia
7. Mohammad Al-Qadra
8. Hatem Abu Rida
9. Mohammad Al-Najjar
10. Nidal Abu Rida
11. Mohammad Abu Darraj
12. Mohammad Abu Teer
13. Mohammad Abu Rida
14. Issa Al Najjar
15. Iyad Abu Rida
16. Mourad Amir Al Amour
17. Mohammad Salem Al Amour
18. Mohammad Abd Al Aziz Abu Ta’ameh
19. Moumen Al Najjar
20. Jihad Haddad
21. Mohammad Ramadan
22. Samir Al Najjar
23. Abdallah Al Najjar
24. Ibrahim Abu Shaweesh
25. Abd Al Qader Shalouf
26. Abd Al Naser Shalouf

Occupation authorities are bringing Palestinians detained in Gaza before sham military courts to extend their detention, said Raafat Hamdouna, representative of the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs, saying that Palestinian lawyers are pursuing the issue.

10 Palestinians from Gaza had their detention extended on August 10, 3 on August 11, 8 are scheduled for military court extensions on August 12 and 3 more on August 14. Hamdouna stressed that there remain incomplete records and missing persons, and that the ministry is attempting to verify the names and ID numbers of Palestinians detained in Gaza during the occupation ground invasion. He called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to urgently follow up on this issue.

The prisoners’ office of the Fateh movement in Gaza reported also that on July 25, as occupation soldiers detained Palestinians in Khuza’a in southern Gaza during the ground invasion, 65-year-old Mohammed Qudiah was shot in cold blood in front of his family while detained by occupation forces. Occupation forces detained 25 family members in the basement of their home, and then brought the detainees to the second floor of the home.

Yassin Qudiah, Mohammed’s son, reported that his father had Spanish citizenship and attempted to inform the soldiers of the presence of civilians, children, women and elders, at which point he was shot.

Palestinian Zakariya al-Aqra, 24, a Fateh activist, was killed by occupation soldiers on Monday, August 11, after his family home in Qabalan, near Nablus was surrounded by army vehicles. Soldiers fired several “Energa” shells into the home, then bulldozed the entrance to the home, after which soldiers entered and shot al-Aqra, killing him and wounding at least eight others, reported IMEMC.

“A neighboring apartment of 45-year old Kamal Farah al-Azaar was also attacked during the bombardment, injuring his wife Inshirah, 38, his daughters Nawal, 7, Manal, 15, and his 4-year old son Jalal,” reported Ma’an News.

Three Palestinians were arrested and taken with the soldiers following their assault on the al-Aqra home, Bilal al-Azaar, 23, his 21-year-old brother, and Alaa Hassan Abdul-Rahim.

Al-Aqra was accused of shooting and injuring an Israeli occupation soldier in the West Bank several weeks ago as army forces invaded Qabalan. He was never charged nor evidence presented to indicate this. He refused to be arrested by the occupation forces, and resisted the assault on his family home.

The occupation prison administration has prevented family visits to Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners for two months, reported the Prisoners Center for Studies on August 10. In addition, prisoners affiliated with these movements have had electrical appliances removed from their rooms, denied recreation and frequently transferred to other prisons.

The prison branch of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine reiterated its position that its members in prison would reject their own family visits in all of the Zionist prisons in solidarity with their brother prisoners in Hamas and Islamic Jihad, saying that “the Front’s branch in the occupation prisons is committed to the unity of the prisoners and rejects fragmentation or the singling out of any component of the prisoners,” and called on Fateh’s affiliates within the prisons to join the visitation strike.

The PFLP prisoners’ statement called for all of the prisoners to organize to escalate their confrontation of the prison administration to cancel the sanctions imposed on prisoners from Hamas, Islamic Jihad and the Front, including prohibition of visits, denial of the canteen, denial of access to television and constant transfers.

“The prisoners’ struggle is an integral part of the struggle of our people and their heroic resistance against the brutal aggression against our beloved Gaza and all of occupied Palestine,” said the statement.

Dozens of Palestinians abducted by Israeli occupation forces from Gaza during their ground invasion remain missing, reported Shawqi al-Ayassa, Palestinian minister of prisoners’ affairs. Over 200 Palestinians were reportedly abducted from Gaza, including a number from the Khuza’a area, and interrogated by the Shin Bet. Approximately 75 were released en masse in Beit Hanoun, but the rest remain in occupation custody.

Al-Ayassa reported that the ministry does not have the names or ID numbers of the Palestinians being held; an occupation official reported to Ma’an News that 159 Palestinians had been arrested for interrogation by the Shin Bet. 26 Palestinians from Gaza are now being held at Ashkelon prison under interrogation, reported the Ministry on Friday, August 8.

Al-Ayassa raised concerns that Palestinian prisoners abducted by occupation forces had been executed, and called upon the International Committee of the Red Cross to obtain the names, ID numbers and locations of the imprisoned Palestinians. He also urged Palestinian families in Gaza to report missing people to the ministry, who may be held in occupation interrogation rooms.

Palestinian prisoners continue to be subject to aggressive armed raids and abusive sanctions, reported Palestinian lawyers. On Sunday, August 10, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reported that 200 special forces officers ransacked section 24 of Negev (Ketziot) prison for sudden and violent inspections.

This followed an incident on Friday, August 8, when special units stormed three sections of Ketziot (Negev) prison, tearing up tile flooring and moving all of the prisoners in section 5 to tents after an early morning raid by heavily armed units.

On Thursday, August 7, in the Ramle prison clinic, a special forces unit invaded the clinic where sick prisoners are housed, subjected them to strip searches and ransacked their rooms.

Various prisoners’ medical treatment was interfered with; on the day when Riad Amour was scheduled for heart surgery, he was then transferred to interrogation at Moskobiya, losing the appointment he had awaited for years. Amin Abu Omar was shot by occupation forces when he was arrested, underwent surgery to remove the bullet, and has only received aspirin or paracetemol for the ongoing severe pain.

Lawyer Jawad Boulos, following legal visits with a number of prisoners in Megiddo prison on Thursday, August 7, reported that special units had stormed room 12 in section 6 of the prison, strip searching prisoners, insulting them and damaging their belongings. In rooms 4, 5, and 12, prison administration removed all eating utensils and appliances and closed the canteen for a week. Throughout Megiddo, Palestinian prisoners are forbidden from keeping cleaning supplies and glasses in their rooms; prisoner representatives are newly forbidden from moving between sections; the quantity of food has been reduced; and 7 of 10 satellite channels have been removed from the prison television. Khader Adnan, former long-term hunger striker, recently re-arrested and now held under administrative detention without charge or trial, told Boulos that 70 prisoners, including all of those affiliated with Islamic Jihad, had been transferred from Gilboa to prisons around Palestine and were forbidden from being held in ground-floor cells, under the pretext that they may dig escape tunnels.

In addition, Boulos reported that a number of prisoners raised concerns about the money in their canteen funds, which is deposited outside the prison by family members or Palestinian organizations, and that the funds in prisoners’ canteens were less than those reported to have been deposited in the account. The prisoners’ representatives have formally raised this issue and have heard no response from the prison administration regarding the missing funds or the reason for them. Boulos noted that legal follow-up on this issue would be forthcoming.