Hundreds March for Palestinians Held in Israeli Jails

Palestinians hold up pictures of loved ones in Israeli custody at a rally in the West Bank city of Nablus called to protest recent reports of abuse and even torture © Zain JAAFAR / AFP
Palestinians hold up pictures of loved ones in Israeli custody at a rally in the West Bank city of Nablus called to protest recent reports of abuse and even torture © Zain JAAFAR / AFP
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Hundreds March for Palestinians Held in Israeli Jails

Palestinians hold up pictures of loved ones in Israeli custody at a rally in the West Bank city of Nablus called to protest recent reports of abuse and even torture © Zain JAAFAR / AFP
Palestinians hold up pictures of loved ones in Israeli custody at a rally in the West Bank city of Nablus called to protest recent reports of abuse and even torture © Zain JAAFAR / AFP

Hundreds of Palestinians marched to protest the treatment of prisoners held in Israeli jails on Saturday, following reports of abuse and even torture.

Relatives held up pictures of prisoners and waved Palestinian flags during separate demonstrations in Ramallah and Nablus in the occupied West Bank.

"Even if the whole world submits, we will not recognise Israel," chanted the protesters in Ramallah.

Thousands of Palestinians have been detained in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel since the start of the Israel-Hamas war in October, the United Nations human rights office said this week.

They have mostly been held in secret and in some cases subjected to treatment that may amount to torture, the OHCHR said in a report.

"For 10 months, we haven't known anything about our sons," Latifa Abu Hamid, a mother of four prisoners, all sentenced to life, told AFP.

"We want to check on them and see them. We want to know their situation... We want our sons."

According to the Prisoners Club, a Palestinian watchdog, about 9,700 Palestinians are currently in Israeli jails, including hundreds under administrative detention.

The NGO estimates that arrests have doubled since October 7 compared to the same period last year.

The OHCHR report said that since the October 7 Hamas attacks, thousands of Palestinians -- including medics, patients, residents and captured fighters -- have been taken from Gaza to Israel, "usually shackled and blindfolded".

"They have generally been held in secret, without being given a reason for their detention, access to a lawyer or effective judicial review," this week's OHCHR report said.

Testimonies for the report suggested that Israel had subjected prisoners to "a range of appalling acts, such as waterboarding and the release of dogs on detainees", UN rights chief Volker Turk said.

The UN report was released the day after Israeli military police questioned soldiers arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing a Palestinian detainee.

At the Ramallah demonstration, Umm Abdullah Hamed detailed how her brother, son and nephew had all been given multi-decade sentences.

"We feel like any family of a prisoner," Umm Abdullah Hamed, whose brother, son and nephew have all been sentenced to decades in prison, said at the Ramallah protest.

"We ask God Almighty to hasten their relief and freedom, God willing," she added.

 



Hezbollah Launches Dozens of Rockets at Northern Israel

Projectiles fired from the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system to intercept missiles fired from southern Lebanon, over the upper Galilee, northern Israel, early 04 August 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Projectiles fired from the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system to intercept missiles fired from southern Lebanon, over the upper Galilee, northern Israel, early 04 August 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
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Hezbollah Launches Dozens of Rockets at Northern Israel

Projectiles fired from the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system to intercept missiles fired from southern Lebanon, over the upper Galilee, northern Israel, early 04 August 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI
Projectiles fired from the Israeli Iron Dome air defense system to intercept missiles fired from southern Lebanon, over the upper Galilee, northern Israel, early 04 August 2024. EPA/ATEF SAFADI

Hezbollah said it had bombarded northern Israel late on Saturday with “dozens of Katyusha rockets” in response to Israeli attacks that hit civilians in southern Lebanon.
Concerns are rising in Lebanon about an outbreak of a war between Hezbollah and Israel amid regional tension.
In a statement, Hezbollah said: “In response to the enemy’s attacks on the southern villages... particularly the attacks on the villages of Kfar Kila and Deir Siryan and the injury of civilians'', it targeted a new area, “Beit Hillel”, in northern Israel with “dozens of Katyusha rockets”.
The Israeli enemy said that Hezbollah launched about 30 rockets from Lebanon at the Galilee region late last night.
According to the Times of Israel on Sunday, Israel said the Iron Dome air defense system intercepted most of those rockets, but one of them fell on the northern town of Beit Hillel, and several other rockets landed in open areas.
Israeli Air Force fighter jets have in response targeted the rocket launcher used in the attack in the town of Marjayoun in southern Lebanon, as well as other Hezbollah infrastructure in the area.
The Israeli army also stated that it shelled the area of Adaysseh with artillery.