During July 2014, nearly 2,000 Palestinians were arrested by Israeli occupation forces, reported the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies, including all sectors of Palestinian society. There are now over 6,200 Palestinians in occupation prisons.
Over 1,930 people were arrested in July, including 800 from the West Bank, 300 from Jerusalem, 630 from Occupied Palestine ’48 and 200 from Gaza. This includes 15 members of the Palestinian Legislative Council and around 240 children, dozens of women, 62 former prisoners released in the Wafa al-Ahrar prisoner exchange, including Samer Issawi; many other former prisoners including former hunger striker Sheikh Khader Adnan; and journalists, activists and academics.
Over 630 Palestinians from Occupied Palestine ’48 were arrested in the mass demonstrations that swept the area following the murder of the teenage boy, Mohammed Abu Khudair, by settlers, as well as in arrest campaigns directed by the occupation in order to suppress protests and marches in solidarity with the Palestinian people in Gaza, following the launch of the occupation’s assault on Gaza at the beginning of July.
The 15 members of the PLC arrested in July followed the arrest of 12 more PLC members in June, following the occupation’s arrest campaign after the disappearance of three settlers near al-Khalil; and the escalation of arrests in Jerusalem also came in order to suppress the mass demonstrations and uprising emerging after the killing and burning of Abu Khdeir.
The 200 arrested from Gaza were forcibly rounded up by occupation ground troops invading the east of Gaza, taken to military camps and interrogated for hours or days by occupying forces as they continued their assault on Gaza. The Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies noted numerous reports that occupation forces executed many prisoners after arresting them, either by firing on them directly or refusing to allow them treatment and letting them bleed to death. Over 20 prisoners from Gaza have lost members of their family in the assault on Gaza and many more have seen their homes demolished.
There are now more than 445 prisoners held without charge or trial under administrative detention, an increase of 133% over the number of administrative detainees in June.
Furthermore, 26 aggressive raids and assaults on prisoners took place in July, taking advantage of the occupation attack on Gaza to continue their abuse of prisoners and impose further repression upon them.
