Israeli forces conduct raids on Palestinian prisoners' cells after finding smuggled phones

Israeli forces conduct raids on Palestinian prisoners' cells after finding smuggled phones
For several years, Palestinian prisoners have been demanding public phones in prison in order to communicate with their families.
2 min read
West Bank
25 July, 2022
Currently, some 4,650 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons. [Qassam Muaddi/TNA]

Israeli forces raided on Sunday ' cells in section 12 in the Israeli Ofer prison in the occupied West Bank, said the Palestinian Prisoners' Club on Monday.

"There is no information yet about the raid or if there are casualties," Amani Sarahnaeh, spokesperson for the Prisoners' Club, told .

"The raid came after the Israeli prison authority found in Ofer," said Sarahneh. "Israeli prison authority often uses such incidents as a pretext for conducting ."

For several years, Palestinian prisoners have been to communicate with their families outside.

Public phones were a key demand in , but a deal was not achieved with the Israeli authorities.

The same demand was brought up once again during the 209 eight-day-long hunger strike, when Israeli authorities agreed, for the first time, on installing phones for Palestinian prisoners. The phones, however, were never installed.

Meanwhile, Palestinian media reported news that might have started a new hunger strike to protest his isolation.

"We have not confirmed yet if Zakariyah has entered a new hunger strike," noted Sarahneh. "However, Zakariyah and the other members of the Gilboa prison break are in isolation and constantly been moved between prisons, which is a form of punishment."

Earlier in July, the Palestinian High Commission for Prisoners' Affairs reported that another prisoner, who also participated in , Yaacoub Qaderi, was undergoing .

Currently, over 4,650 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, including 30 women, 280 children and 650 detainees without charges under the "administrative detention" system, .