By Awad Rjoub
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - A large number of Palestinian detainees in Israel’s Etzion prison south of Bethlehem in the southern occupied West Bank are suffering from severe food poisoning after consuming spoiled food, a Palestinian prisoners’ rights group said Monday.
"A lawyer for the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, after visiting nine prisoners on Sunday at Etzion Detention Center, relayed that they had suffered poisoning after displaying similar symptoms following their meals,” said the Palestinian Prisoners Society.
"This is not the first instance of poisoning in Etzion, as similar cases have been recorded multiple times over the past few years," it added.
Amani Sarahna, the media coordinator for the Palestinian Prisoners Society, told Anadolu that Etzion serves as a temporary detention and investigation center where prisoners are later transferred to other facilities. It currently holds 111 detainees.
She noted that the poisoned prisoners did not receive any medical treatment.
The Commission of Detainees’ Affairs confirmed that a significant number of detainees under interrogation at Etzion suffered from poisoning due to spoiled food served to them by the prison administration.
According to the commission, based on information provided by their lawyer, who faced challenges visiting the detainees on Sunday, prisoners experienced severe abdominal pain, diarrhea, vomiting, weakness, fatigue, facial yellowing, significant fluid loss and an inability to stand after consuming the meals. Many even fainted.
The commission accused the prison administration of "deliberately subjecting detainees to harsh punishment since the start of the (Israeli) assault on Gaza. This includes prolonged hunger, providing poor-quality meals in both quantity and quality, and subjecting those who protest to severe beatings and solitary confinement."
The commission called on all international organizations to "intervene urgently to alleviate their suffering and ensure their protection in Israeli prisons."
According to the commission and the Palestinian Prisoners Society, the total number of arrests in the West Bank since the beginning of the ongoing war on Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023 has exceeded 12,000.
This includes dozens of Palestinian workers and thousands from Gaza, whose numbers have not yet been fully documented.
*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala