News- Middle East: A Palestinian prisoners' advocacy group says the health condition of a Palestinian detainee being held since 2002 has deteriorated dramatically amid reports of widespread torture and mistreatment of Palestinian inmates in Israeli detention centers.

The Asra Media Office (AMO) announced in a statement on Monday that 52-year-old Islam Saleh Jarrar, a resident of the northern West Bank city of Jenin, is being deliberately starved at Ganot Prison. He has become severely emaciated and is experiencing medical neglect.

The rights group added that Jarrar, sentenced to nine life terms together with seven additional years, is only allowed to go to the prison yard once every two weeks for a single hour.

He is also denied normal trimming and forced to have his head completely shaved, which the AMO described as part of “collective humiliation measures” systematically imposed by prison authorities against Palestinian prisoners.

The Asra Media Office urged the international community to take immediate action to protect the lives of Palestinian detainees and put an end to the “slow-death policy” being practiced by Israeli authorities inside the regime’s prisons.

In a related development, the Palestine Center for Prisoners’ Studies warned of the “dangerous consequences of the winter season for Palestinian detainees.”

It highlighted that prisoners lack adequate winter clothing, blankets, hot water, and heating after two years of restrictions and isolation, leaving their lives in serious danger.

The center reported that Israeli authorities have imposed a state of emergency across all prisons since the onset of the genocidal campaign in Gaza on October 7, 2023, isolating them entirely from the outside world.

Family visits, legal access, and visits from Red Cross representatives were prohibited.

Additionally, since that time, clothing and blankets have been barred from entering the prisons, whether delivered by families or humanitarian organizations.

The circumstances surrounding the detention of Palestinian inmates by Israel are unacceptable and characterized by inadequate hygiene standards. Moreover, Palestinian detainees have endured persistent torture, harassment, and oppression.

Palestinian detainees have consistently participated in indefinite hunger strikes to express their frustration over their unjust imprisonment.

Human rights organizations say that Israel continues to violate the rights and freedoms granted to abductees as stipulated by the Fourth Geneva Convention and international laws.

According to the Palestine Detainees Studies Center, around 60 percent of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons suffer from chronic illnesses, with many having passed away either during their incarceration or after their release due to the seriousness of their health issues.

Source: Press TV