The Prisoners and Freed Prisoners Affairs Authority said yesterday that the Israeli Prisons Administration and the Israeli Ministry of Health have denied reports that four Palestinian detainees had tested positive for the coronavirus.
Speaking to Donia Al-Watan it said that its legal staff had contacted the Israeli prison administration and Arab members of the Knesset, who in turn contacted the Israeli health ministry, to confirm earlier reports claiming that four Palestinian prisoners in Megiddo prison had been infected with the coronavirus.
These Chains Will Be Broken: Ramzy Baroud’s New Book Delivers Resistance Message from Palestinian Prisoners to the World https://t.co/LQ99cXzbb5
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It explained that four Palestinian prisoners had been isolated on suspicion of contracting the virus after having been in contact with an ill prisoner last week. However, they did not show any symptoms.
Section (4) in the prison has been vacated and converted into a quarantine and medical examination area, it added.
Israel must release all Palestinian prisoners because it cannot protect them from the highly infectious COVID-19 #SavePalestinePrisoners https://t.co/b5XqLda289
— Sarah Wilkinson (@swilkinsonbc) March 19, 2020
Meanwhile, Palestinian prisoners have rejected their meals in protest against the Israeli Prison Service’s plans to stop supplying 140 products, including cleaning products, from the prisons’ canteen.
Around 5,700 Palestinians, including numerous women and children, are currently detained in Israeli prisons.
According to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club, 90 percent of prisoners have become ill while in prison due to poor conditions and negligence which may have exacerbated their health.
(Palestine Chronicle, MEMO, Social Media)
