A center specialized in prisoners´ affairs warned, this evening, Sunday, that Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons are living in harsh conditions due to the severe heat wave.
The (non-governmental) "Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies" said in a statement, "Prisoners in the occupation prisons are living these days in very difficult and harsh conditions, in light of the severe heat wave that hits the region, where prisons have turned into what resemble hot ovens." He added that "the prisoners who suffer the most from the heat wave are languishing in the prisons of the south (the Negev, Raymond, Nafha, and Eshel), and they contain nearly half of the number of prisoners, as they are located in the Negev desert region, where temperatures and humidity rise to high rates big". He pointed out that "the rooms in which the prisoners are held, especially in Nafha prison, are closed from all sides and no air enters them, with the lack of sufficient ventilation." In the same statement, the director of the center, Riyadh Al-Ashkar, warned of the negative repercussions on the prisoners in such difficult climatic conditions, as he feared that some of them would suffer heat strokes or fainting and shortness of breath as a result of the temperature and hot air. He pointed out that "there is nothing to relieve the prisoners of this heat except the water with which they constantly wet their clothes and spray it on the floors of the rooms and corridors and even on their beds." Al-Ashqar explained that the temperatures reached today in the Negev Desert Prison to more than 45 degrees Celsius, which caused exacerbating suffering for them, and they were unable to go out to the yards of the divisions or the squatters, and these difficult conditions are added to their already harsh conditions as a result of the oppressive practices of the occupation, and the penalties imposed on them. He noted that these hot and dry climates in the desert areas push the exit of reptiles and dangerous and poisonous insects, such as deadly desert snakes, rodents and scorpions, which are easy to reach their sections and tents, and cause a danger to their lives, in light of the administration´s disregard for their lives. The Human Rights Center called on international institutions to intervene to protect the prisoners from the repercussions of weather conditions, which are added to the arbitrary practices of the occupation against the prisoners, which increase the extent of their suffering. The occupation authorities are detaining about 5,300 Palestinians in their prisons, including 40 female prisoners, 250 children, and about 520 administrative detainees, according to official Palestinian data.
