SAFA - The Prisoners’ Committee of the National and Islamic Forces renewed calls for the release of Palestinian prisoners and an end to the violations they face in Israeli prisons during a weekly protest outside the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City.

Former prisoners, families of detainees, and representatives of organizations working on the prisoners’ issue took part in the protest. They said the torture, starvation, medical neglect, isolation, and other abuses reported behind prison walls demand urgent international action to protect prisoners and secure their release.

Participants raised Palestinian flags, pictures of prisoners, and banners affirming that freedom for prisoners remains a core national cause. They chanted calls for the international community, Arab and Muslim countries, and people around the world to act to save the prisoners and hold the Israeli occupation accountable for the abuses committed against them.

A Central Cause

Marwan Abu Al-Nasr, a member of the Central Committee of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, said in remarks on behalf of the Prisoners’ Committee of the National and Islamic Forces that the protest sends a clear message: the prisoners’ cause remains a central issue that unites Palestinians across political and social divisions.

Abu Al-Nasr said Palestinians, despite their differences, remain united around the issue of prisoners whom he said are being subjected to slow death and daily killing inside the prisons. He called on Palestinians in Gaza, the West Bank, the territories occupied in 1948, and the diaspora to unite their efforts in support of the prisoners.

He stressed that continued abuses against prisoners require broad popular mobilization, describing the weekly gathering outside the Red Cross headquarters as an expression of solidarity with them. He said greater action and pressure are needed.

He also called on national institutions to launch international campaigns through their networks, organizations, and friends around the world, seeking to pressure Israel to halt the violations, release prisoners, and return the bodies of those who died inside the prisons.

Bodies Still Being Withheld

Yasmin Al-Bursh, wife of physician Adnan Al-Bursh and a member of the National Higher Committee for the Recovery of Martyrs’ Bodies, said the protest outside the International Committee of the Red Cross was held to demand protection for prisoners who remain behind bars and the return of the bodies of those who died in detention.

In her remarks, Al-Bursh said testimonies from released prisoners indicate that detainees face starvation, torture, medical neglect, isolation, and psychological and physical abuse. She stressed that such practices cannot be dismissed as isolated incidents or temporary lapses.

Al-Bursh called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to gain access to prisoners and monitor their detention conditions, while pressing for an end to torture, starvation, and denial of medical care. She also called for an end to enforced disappearance and demanded that the bodies of prisoners held by Israel be returned to their families.

She said the prisoners’ cause is a test of the international community’s commitment to enforcing international humanitarian law. She called for the release of sick prisoners, children, women, and administrative detainees; an end to torture and solitary confinement; full access for the Red Cross to carry out its mandate; and the return of the bodies of those who died in detention so they can be buried with dignity.

International Silence

Abdullah Qandil, director of the Wa’ed Association for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners, said the continued deaths of prisoners in Israeli jails reflect the occupation’s bloody and criminal mindset. He warned that more prisoners could die as a result of assaults, torture, and medical neglect.

Speaking to a reporter from Felesteen newspaper, Qandil called on Palestinians and international institutions to take urgent and decisive action over the prisoners’ cause. He criticized international silence over the treatment of detainees inside the prisons.

Muawiya Al-Soufi, a member of the Prisoners’ Committee of the National and Islamic Forces, said prisoners’ suffering continues, noting that Israel often does not announce a detainee’s death immediately, with such deaths sometimes being disclosed only after a period of time.

Al-Soufi told a Felesteen reporter that bodies handed over by Israel have shown signs of beatings, torture, and abuse. In other cases, he said, the bodies are not returned to their families but are held in what are known as cemeteries of numbers and morgues.

Prisoners Are Not Numbers

Al-Soufi stressed that prisoners and those who have died in detention are not merely numbers. He called on the international community, people of conscience around the world, and Arab and Muslim countries to act to save those who remain behind bars.

Participants said the weekly protest will continue to serve as a platform for bringing prisoners’ voices to the world, keeping attention focused on their suffering and pressing international institutions, foremost among them the International Committee of the Red Cross, to fulfill their role in protecting prisoners and monitoring their conditions.

They stressed that the prisoners’ cause will remain at the heart of popular activities until their suffering ends and the prison doors are opened, maintaining that freedom is an established right and a cause that cannot be abandoned.