Palestinian detainees in Israel’s Ofer Prison get water ‘for only 45 minutes per day’: Commission

By Awad Rjoub

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Palestinian detainees in Israel's Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank receive water for only 45 minutes per day, a Palestinian commission said on Sunday.

"The general conditions in Israeli prisons remain difficult and complex. They are getting worse,” the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs said in a statement.

The commission said water is available to detainees in the detention facility “for only 45 minutes daily.”

“Electricity goes off at 10 p.m. until noon the next day, while the food is poor in both quantity and quality,” it added.

The commission said several prisoners “were beaten and mistreated multiple times, with some being assaulted while going out to see their lawyers.”

“All of the detainees are suffering significant weight loss due to the (Israeli) policy of starvation,” it added.

Ibrahim Najajreh, who heads the commission's office in Hebron, said there are at least 1,500 Palestinian detainees in the Ofer Prison.

“Each detainee must make the best use of the available water for drinking and fulfilling his needs of ablution and bathing, as there are no storage facilities,” he told Anadolu.

A joint statement from the commission and the Palestinian Prisoner Society estimates that more than 10,100 Palestinians have been detained by the Israeli army in the West Bank since Oct. 7, 2023.

At least 635 Palestinians have also been killed and nearly 5,400 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory during the same period, according to the Health Ministry.

In a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala in Istanbul