Ramallah: The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) announced that Israeli authorities have intensified restrictions on legal teams monitoring the situation of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons. These restrictions affect both field visits and court sessions.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, the organizations issued a joint statement on Monday, highlighting that, in addition to existing restrictions since the start of the genocide, the prison administration has informed several lawyers that they are prohibited from conveying any family greetings or messages to detainees. Lawyers attempting to deliver such messages face threats of punitive measures during visits or court sessions.
The organizations emphasized that these actions are part of Israel's strategy to completely isolate detainees from the outside world and their families. The International Committee of the Red Cross remains barred from visiting, and detainees' relatives have been prevented from seeing them since the onset of the genocide.
The statement also noted that Israel initially banned lawyers from visiting detainees at the beginning of the war. After persistent advocacy by specialized institutions, visits resumed but with significant obstacles. These include deliberate declarations of a state of emergency by prison administrations to cancel visits after lawyers have already traveled long distances. Additionally, there are prolonged delays in responding to visit requests, which can last two weeks or more, and sometimes several months, especially for detainees serving life sentences.
Reports indicate that detainees have faced assaults and threats before or after meeting with their lawyers. Recently, a group of lawyers has been banned from visiting detainees for several consecutive months.
The statement further highlighted Israel's continued practice of enforced disappearance against numerous detainees from Gaza by restricting legal teams from reaching them. Despite recent amendments to regulations concerning Gaza detainees, human rights institutions have only managed to visit dozens of detainees under stringent security measures.
