Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails began a campaign of disobedience on Thursday and threatened to launch a mass hunger strike during Ramadan against measures taken by Israeli Prison Service in recent days.
In recent days, Ben-Gvir instructed prison officials to provide one hour of running water in each wing after prisoners were found to be deliberately wasting thousands of liters of water by letting showers and faucet taps run for hours at a time. Ben-Gvir also ordered the closure of bakeries inside the Ketziot and Nafha prisons which provided prisoners with fresh pita bread.
Other steps reportedly being discussed include limiting family visits, halting the sale of certain foods and items in the canteens, and restricting families from sending clothes to prisoners.
Yishai Fleisher, an advisor to Ben-Gvir, told the Tazpit Press Service, “Terrorists who murder and maim for jihadist and Israel-hating reasons should not expect a fun and rewarding life filled with fresh pitas, entertainment, and university courses waiting for them. Israeli prison should be a form of deterrence, and not a reward.”
“Conditions given to them in the wings – there are 10-15 cells around a courtyard, and a room assigned to be a supermarket. Fresh fruit, Meat, fresh breads, whole trucks of bread every day,” the source said.
“The rooms – when you enter the room you see a jungle – everyone has half a house there – clothes, pots, pans, stoves for cooking, everything is crowded with so many things they can hide many things – make knives toothbrushes, cans, cell phones. You don’t know where to start looking,” he said.
“There is a special unit that takes everything out, and dismantles the room to dig through the piles of garbage to find the things they managed to hide. If they didn’t give them all these conditions – but only clothes, it would be easier to find things.”
The former commander praised Ben-Gvir’s measures, but stressed that the status quo between the prisoners and guards is “the root of the problem.”
Ben-Gvir’s measures “will cause a lot of noise – but in the end it will have an effect,” he said.
Disobedience and Hunger Strike
Palestinian sources told TPS that the approximately 4,800 Palestinians will collectively refuse to cooperate with prison officials by not obeying orders, locking themselves in their cells, refusing to let guards search their cells, and not wearing prison uniforms.
The Ramadan hunger strike, if it happens, would be the largest mass hunger strike staged by the Palestinians, with prisoners affiliated with Fatah, Hamas, Palestinian Islamic Jihad and other terror groups participating.