The Commission of Prisoners' Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club said that the detainees held in the Israeli "Manashe" camp have been carrying out protest steps for days, and yesterday they informed the lawyers during their appearance before the occupation court via video conference that they had begun a hunger strike in protest against the difficult and harsh detention conditions they face.

The Authority and the Club explained in a joint statement, today, Wednesday, that the number of detainees held in the (Manashe) camp until yesterday is about 100 detainees, noting that the camp is one of a number of camps that the occupation has established, in light of the escalation of arrest campaigns in the West Bank since the beginning of the war of extermination. It is geographically located in the north of the West Bank near the (Salem) camp, and administratively it is affiliated with the occupation army, as is the case with the (Etzion and Hawara) detainees, which are administratively affiliated with the occupation army, as they were established during the years of the second intifada with the escalation of arrest campaigns, and later the occupation kept the two camps to detain new detainees, and they are among the worst detention centers.

In this context, the Commission and the Club pointed out that there are dozens of reports from human rights institutions that have documented over the years the nature of the harsh and difficult detention conditions that degrade human dignity, which have doubled after the war against detainees as a result of the practice of torture crimes in them, specifically the (Etzion) detention center, which after the war has turned into an arena for torturing and abusing detainees, and there are dozens of testimonies that document what detainees are exposed to in the aforementioned camp, noting that since the beginning of the war, the occupation has deliberately detained dozens of detainees in (Etzion) for several months, so that the detainee’s only wish becomes his transfer from the camp, which represents a station of humiliation and terror for detainees.

One of the detainees explained to the lawyer through the court that the camp does not have warm water at least, in light of the severe cold, and it lacks a clinic or even a nurse. There are some detainees who suffer from health problems and have been in the camp for some time, in addition to their suffering from the crime of starvation and the severe shortage of clothing, since the camp is basically a new camp, and all of those in it are new detainees under arrest, in addition to the acts of torture to which they are subjected.

The Authority and the Club pointed out that despite the numerous demands from the relevant institutions to close the Etzion and Hawara camps, the occupation insists on using them as a station for abusing and torturing detainees, under the management of the occupation army. Today, instead of closing the Etzion and Hawara camps, it is working to expand the circle of camps affiliated with the army, by establishing new camps such as the Manash camp, in addition to other camps established for detainees from Gaza, such as the Naftali camp. The Authority and the Club previously issued a report regarding the new camp.

The Authority and the Club also pointed out that the camp administration, since its establishment, has imposed great restrictions and complications on completing visits to the detainees in it, and since its establishment it has allowed visits only once, while stressing that there are legal efforts being made through lawyers in order to improve the conditions of the detainees and convey their demands, as well as in order to allow visits to them.