Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli Nafha prison have declared a prison-wide hunger and tensions have run high in Ofer and Shata prisons after the approval of a set of stricter punitive measures.
A letter that was leaked by the prisoners in Nafha prison said intensified protestation steps would be kicked off on Friday in Nafha, Ashkelon, and Beer Sheva prisons following a hunger strike beginning Wednesday that could run until Saturday.
The letter mentioned the possibility that protests could take place in all Israeli prisons with Palestinian prisoners.
Sources in Shata prison said Monday that prisoners would refuse lunch and dinner as precautionary step after it was decided that they must receive visitors and be moved to the prison ward shackled by the hands and feet.
The prison administration threatened that the step was part of a series of measures that would be soon imposed on the prisoners.
Prisoners held in the Ofer prison threatened to refuse three meals and close down a prison section after Friday prayers among other measures after a six-hour early morning search raid and a series of restrictions enforced by the prisons including on visitation.
A prisoner in the women’s HaSharon prison warned of threats of even stricter measures in the prison later this month as she said living conditions are like never before after the naming of a new prison director, according to Mandela rights group in Palestine.
She said the prison told the prisoners to brace themselves for upcoming measures after making restrictions on clothes and books and carrying out daily provocative search raids.
