Ramallah- Israeli security circles acknowledged reducing meals for Palestinian prisoners, at a time when Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir confirmed that reducing food quantities falls within measures to “deter” prisoners.
According to a Palestinian official and a recently released prisoner who spoke to Tel Aviv Tribune Net, the “starvation” policy left its effects on the prisoners, primarily with weight loss, then general weakness in their bodies, which began to appear clearly.
On Wednesday, Haaretz newspaper quoted security sources as saying that “the Israeli prison administration has significantly reduced the amount of food for Palestinian prisoners since October 7.”
According to the newspaper, sharp criticism was directed at the Prison Service in several closed discussions held recently, and following the petition submitted by the Civil Rights Association (non-governmental), which was discussed Wednesday in the Israeli Supreme Court.
The newspaper quoted extremist Minister Ben Gvir as saying that he addressed the petitioners in a letter and claimed that the measure was a “deterrent,” explaining that he had bragged on more than one occasion in the past months that he was behind the reduction of food rations provided to Palestinian detainees.
Pictures of released prisoners show emaciated bodies and significant weight loss, while warnings continue of more severe health consequences.
What do prisoners eat?
The former prisoner, Youssef Abu Ras, an educational counselor at the Ministry of Education in southern Hebron, was arrested after the outbreak of the war on Gaza on October 7, and spent 6 months in prison. He was recently released after losing 40 kilograms of weight.
In response to Tel Aviv Tribune Net’s question about the prisoners’ food, he said that it was in the Nafha desert prison, “and it was the best in terms of the quantity of food, despite its scarcity.”
He added, “Breakfast is a can of milk weighing 25 grams for each prisoner. Lunch is about 4 tablespoons of unripe, smelly rice. Dinner is about the same, sometimes with pieces of sausage or turkey meat weighing no more than 50 grams.”
He continues that the prisoners do not receive tea, coffee, or fruit at all, and that the food provided to a room containing 14 prisoners does not satisfy a single prisoner.
He summarized the situation of the prisoners by saying, “The prisoner waits for food while he is hungry, finishes his meal while he is hungry, waits for the next meal while he is hungry, and so on over the course of the months of detention.”
He continued that the human body “needs about 4,000 calories daily, but it does not get 1,500, and thus the consumption of fat and then muscle begins, as the prisoners feel severe pain and a sharp weight loss ranging between 40 and 50 kilograms, and this is what happened to me, and it was confirmed after conducting medical examinations.” After my release.”
In his comparison of the quality and quantity of food after and before October 7, he said that the difference was huge. “We used to rely on the prison store to buy food, and this is forbidden now. We used to prepare 7 items for breakfast, and the same for lunch and dinner, and sometimes with meat and chicken. The prisoners ate and were satisfied and prepared the food themselves.”
Abu Ras points out serious repercussions on the health of prisoners, the longer the period of detention and hunger. “One of them was released a few days ago and told me that his weight had decreased by 50 kilograms, and that symptoms began to appear on the prisoners caused by hunger, including hair loss, dizziness, and inability to move.”
Dangerous slope
For his part, the head of the Prisoners and Freed Prisoners Affairs Authority, Qadura Fares, told Tel Aviv Tribune Net that he and Palestinian human rights institutions had always warned of the starvation policy pursued by the occupation.
In response to a question from Tel Aviv Tribune Net about prisoner institutions documenting previous cases of starvation over decades of the occupation, he answered that he was arrested when the occupation was 13 years old (i.e. 1980), and he met prisoners who were arrested in the Naksa in 1967 and others during the British Mandate before 1948, and listened. To their experiences, he was curious to know what was going on with them.
He added, “At no stage have I heard that the occupation has reached this dangerous slope in dealing with prisoners, which Israel has reached today, in addition to the amputation of hands, gouging out eyes, rape, and others.”
He continued that Ben Gvir boasts that he is reducing the prisoners’ meals to deter the Hamas movement, asking, “What does this have to do with war? How can starvation serve their battle? And does it come in the form of victory?”
Fares answers, “It is a war of revenge and nothing more. The evil spirit has awakened as a result of a feeling of frustration, and as a result of a culture of racism and disappointment.”
He pointed out that international law obligates the occupying countries to provide food, clothing, treatment, a suitable place for detention, health services, lighting, etc., but the opposite of all of that applies to Palestinian prisoners.
He pointed to legal action against prison administrations due to the starvation policy, as the latter provides false menus that it claims to provide to prisoners, and the court does not bother to audit or request the formation of a committee to verify the validity of its claim “in clear collusion with prison administrations.”
Institutions specialized in prisoner affairs estimate the number of Palestinian detainees in the West Bank since October 7 at approximately 9,400, and this does not include arrests in the Gaza Strip.
Prisoners are subjected to a systematic war of starvation. Learn about the decisions of the occupation government regarding food for prisoners. pic.twitter.com/BtSxnwOLqn
– Quds Network | Prisoners (@asranews) June 26, 2024
What does the Geneva Convention say?
The Geneva Convention relative to the Treatment of Prisoners of War requires the Detaining Power to “provide evacuated prisoners of war with sufficient quantities of drinking water and food, and with the necessary clothing and medical care.”
It also stipulates that daily basic meals should be “adequate in quantity, quality and variety, to ensure that the health of prisoners of war is maintained in good condition and that they are not exposed to underweight or nutritional deficiency disorders, and that due regard is also given to the diet to which the prisoners are accustomed” and that “prisoners of war shall be provided with Sufficient quantities of drinking water.
It also states that “so far as is practicable, prisoners of war shall take part in the preparation of their meals and, for this purpose, may have the use of kitchens. Moreover, they shall be provided with means to enable them to prepare the additional food in their possession themselves.” The agreement prohibits “taking any collective disciplinary measures affecting food.”
In addition to starvation and the policy of beatings and torture, the occupation imposed unprecedented measures against the prisoners in conjunction with the start of the war on Gaza, including cutting off electricity and water and confiscating electrical appliances, including radio and television sets, and clothing, so that the prisoners remained in the clothes in which they were arrested throughout the period of detention, according to documentation. Prisoners’ institutions.