Israel bars Gazan families from visiting Palestinian prisoners

Israel bars Gazan families from visiting Palestinian prisoners
The Israeli prison, located in the Mitzpe Ramon town in southern Israel has reportedly cited damages to the prison hall as their reason
2 min read
14 November, 2017
Out of the 6,198 Palestinians inside Israeli prisons, around 300 are from Gaza [AFP]

Israel has cancelled the permits of Gaza-based families of Palestinian prisoners for the remainder of the month in the Nafha prison, officials say.

The spokesperson for the Red Cross in Gaza told Palestine based Ma’an News Agency that permits for families of prisoners were supposed to be issued on Monday, but were called off for the rest of November.

The Israeli prison, located in the Mitzpe Ramon town in southern Israel has reportedly cited damages to the prison hall as the reason of calling off visitor permits according to Suheir Zaqqout.

Out of the 6,198 Palestinians inside Israeli prisons, around 300 are from the Gaza Strip, Zaqqout added.

Palestinian prisoners began their 40-day Freedom and Dignity Hunger Strike on April 17, following Fatah leader Marwan Barghouthi’s calls for prisoners to partake in a hunger strike until Israel agrees to give them their basic human rights.

One of the basic rights undermined by Israeli prison guards was not allowing families of prisoners to visit.

A Palestinian prisoner serving a life sentence in an Israeli jail was allowed to see his cancer-stricken teenage son for only 30 minutes in October.

Rajab Tahhan was given a very limited time to spend with his 19-year-old son Majd inside an Israeli hospital, where he is getting treatment for leukaemia.

Tahhan, who was cuffed from his hands and feet, was escorted by the Israeli Prison Services to the Hadassah Medical Center in West Jerusalem.