Prisoners’ Center: About 1,300 detainees from Gaza still held in Israeli prisons

The Palestinian Center for the Defense of Prisoners called for intensified legal care for prisoners from the Gaza Strip, and for documenting the violations, abuse and retaliatory conduct they are subjected to by Israeli prison forces.

In a statement received by the Safa news agency on Tuesday, the center said the number of Gaza detainees in Israeli jails is currently estimated at 1,300, with the vast majority classified as “unlawful combatants.”

It said Gaza prisoners have not received the necessary legal follow-up and have been largely neglected by official and international institutions since the start of the war of annihilation on the Gaza Strip.

The center warned that any delay in legal follow-up encourages the occupation to push further and to enact oppressive laws and decisions that extend the detention periods of Gaza prisoners, in addition to the harsh treatment they receive compared with other detainees.

It urged the establishment of a dedicated legal unit within official Palestinian bodies to follow up on Gaza prisoners’ cases and to compel Israeli courts to release them, noting that most remain detained under the unjust “unlawful combatant” designation.

The center said Israeli forces released about 1,700 detainees from Gaza yesterday as part of a swap deal with the Palestinian resistance.

Media outlets documented harsh scenes of the released prisoners, reporting they had been subjected to severe torture, humiliating treatment, deliberate medical neglect and a catastrophic humanitarian reality over two years of detention.