Israeli authorities announced today that three Israeli jailers tested positive for novel coronavirus, according to the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission.
The commission revealed in a statement that two Israeli policemen in the Israeli Ofer prison and another in the Nitzan prison were infected with COVID-19, a situation which portends a real disaster for over 5,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 180 children, 700 patients, 41 female prisoners and dozens of elderly prisoners, in 23 Israeli jails and detention centers.
Head of the Commission, Qadri Abu Bakr, told WAFA that the Israeli authorities announcement about the exposure of two jailers to coronavirus stress the need to conduct medical examinations for all prisoners who contacted the infected jailers and protect all prisoners against possible contraction of the deadly virus.
The commission cautioned against the risk of the imminent spread of the coronavirus among prisoners following the Israeli Prison Service’s failure to take any concrete measures to protect prisoners, such as reducing overcrowding, ongoing sterilization of prisons, sections, and cells, and supplying prisoners with hygiene necessities, such as detergents, sterilizers, and disinfectants.
It held IPS fully responsible for the prisoners’ lives, and urged international organizations and the International Committee of Red Cross to force Israeli authorities to provide the prisoners with all public health necessities, conduct medical examinations for them regularly, and to release the most vulnerable prisoners.
Around 5,700 Palestinians, including numerous women and children, are currently detained in Israeli prisons.
