Five months after Israel’s High Court ruled that its prisons were failing to provide enough food for Palestinian detainees and ordered conditions be improved, emaciated prisoners are still emerging with tales of extreme hunger and abuse.

Samer Khawaireh, 45, told Reuters that all he was given to eat in Israel’s Megiddo and Nafha prisons, which both hold Palestinian security prisoners, was 10 thin pieces of bread over the course of a day, with a bit of hummus and tahini. Twice a week, he got some tuna.

Videos saved on Khawaireh’s phone show him at normal weight before he was detained in the northern West Bank city of Nablus last April, and clearly emaciated upon his release. He says he lost 22 kilograms (49 pounds) during nine months in prison, emerging a month ago covered in scabies sores, and so gaunt and disheveled his 9-year-old son Azadeen didn’t recognize him.

Reuters could not independently determine the total number of prisons where food scarcity prevailed, or the total number of inmates who experienced its toll.

Reuters could likewise not independently verify Khawaireh’s diet during his captivity, the reasons for his extreme weight loss, or exactly how widespread such experiences are among the 9,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. A journalist at a Nablus radio station who was held without charge, Khawaireh said he was never told why he was detained in a night raid on his house in April. Israel’s military declined to comment.

But his account was consistent with descriptions in some reports compiled by lawyers after prison visits. Reuters reviewed 13 such reports from December and January, in which 27 prisoners complained of a lack of food, with most saying provisions had not changed since the court order.

The Israel Prison Service declined to comment on Khawaireh’s individual case but said it “rejects allegations of ‘starvation’ or systematic neglect. Nutrition and medical care are provided based on professional standards and operational procedures.”

The service “operates in accordance with the law and court rulings” and all complaints are investigated through official channels, a spokesperson said. “Basic rights, including access to food, medical care, and adequate living conditions, are provided in accordance with the law and applicable procedures, by professionally trained staff.”

Previous reports........

© The Times of Israel