The Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies calls on the international community and the United Nations to intervene in order to release elderly prisoners.
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Israeli occupation forces carrying out drills on repression of Palestinian prisoners (Social media)
The Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies confirmed that the Israeli occupation held more than 74 Palestinian elderly persons, aged over 60, in its prisons, stressing that the detention was carried out under harsh conditions that even the young detainees could not tolerate.
On the occasion of the International Day of the Elderly, which falls on the 1st of October each year, the Center explained that the occupation does not discriminate between old and young prisoners, where older prisoners are subjected to arbitrary practices against them, and a number have often been isolated by the prison administration or denied visits.
The report also touched on the occupation’s practice of medical neglect against elderly prisoners, noting that they all suffer from difficult health conditions due to their advanced age and the poor health and living conditions in the occupation’s prisons, explaining that prisons are considered fertile ground for the spread of diseases.
The director of the center, researcher Riyad al-Ashqar, said that the occupation does not hesitate to deliberately arrest elderly citizens and practice humiliation and torture against them simply because they are Palestinian citizens holding on to their land, noting that there is hardly a day without arrests or attacks on the elderly across the occupied West Bank and al-Quds.
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While some of them get released after interrogation or beatings, others get transferred to Israeli occupation prisons regardless of their medical conditions, al-Ashqar added.
He referred to the incident of the martyrdom of 80-year-old Palestinian man Omar Abdul Majeed Asaad, who suffered from Israeli brutality and was left to die, back in 2022, in a building under construction in the village of Jiljilya.
Al-Ashqar further explained that the arrests of the elderly have clearly been evident in the targeting of al-Aqsa Mosque defenders despite their advanced age.
He also noted that all old prisoners detained since before the Oslo Accords, of which there are 22 prisoners, as well as dozens of other prisoner deans and others are all over 60 years of age, noting that a number of the elderly prisoners were martyred in occupation prisons as a result of the harsh conditions of detention and deliberate medical negligence that they were subjected to.
The director of the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies highlighted that the Israeli occupation does not hesitate to detain the elderly under the arbitrary administrative detention law, without charge, despite their advanced age and the multiple diseases they suffer from.
Al-Ashqar called on the United Nations institutions and the international community to intervene in order to release elderly prisoners and those detained for many years, especially those suffering from illnesses, as the United Nations Charter have designated this day to honor this age group.
On September 28, the Center confirmed that the number of arrests carried out by the occupation authorities since the outbreak of al-Aqsa Intifada in September 2000 had reached 143,000, including 2,604 women and 20,237 children, noting that the number of prisoners increased significantly as a result of arrests in the first years of the Intifada, reaching more than 12,000 Palestinian prisoners in 2007.
It is worth noting that approximately 5,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in Israeli occupation prisons, including 31 women in “Damon” Prison, as well as 160 children distributed in “Ofer”, “Meggido”, and “Damon” prisons.
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