Hamas says freeing Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails is a ‘top priority’

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement, Hamas, said on Wednesday that freeing Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails is a top priority. The movement called for global action in support of the prisoners’ cause.

“The occupation state’s prison administration continues to practice the most heinous crimes against prisoners inside prisons and detention centres, including medical negligence, torture and killing,” said Hamas on its Telegram channel as it commemorated Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, which falls today, 17 April.

The movement added that approximately 14,000 Palestinian prisoners, including children and women, and approximately 2,000 abducted from the Gaza Strip, are “subjected to psychological and physical torture, and deprived of the most basic human rights.” It noted that 63 prisoners have been killed in Israeli jails since 7 October, 2023.

However, Israeli crimes against the prisoners will not break their resolve, and the perpetrators of those crimes will not escape punishment, it insisted. Furthermore, it said that it holds the occupation state accountable for the lives and well-being of all Palestinian prisoners and detainees.

“The world has witnessed how the movement has protected the [Israeli captives’] lives and sought to treat them with humanity and civilised values, while the fascist occupation government practices the worst forms of torture, deliberate killing and criminality against [Palestinian] prisoners, in flagrant violation of international humanitarian law and all international norms and conventions,” said Hamas.

It called on human rights and humanitarian institutions to prosecute the perpetrators of the crimes against Palestinian prisoners across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, as well as those kidnapped from the Gaza Strip.

READ: Palestinian man caught spying for Israel in Gaza