Israeli rights groups report 22 accounts of prisoners being shot by guards

Two Israeli human rights groups said Thursday that they had received at least 22 testimonies from prisoners and detainees, most of them Palestinians, who reported being shot and seriously wounded by Israeli prison guards. The findings were included in a joint report by Physicians for Human Rights–Israel and the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel. The organizations said they received the testimonies, most of them over the past year, from individuals who reported that prison guards had fired projectiles they described as rubber, plastic or sponge bullets. They said 21 testimonies were given by Palestinian prisoners and one by a Jewish prisoner. The accounts included incidents in which guards fired at prisoners from close range and inside cells, where prisoners had no room to move away from the source of the gunfire or take shelter. The organizations documented cases at several prisons and detention facilities including Ofer, Ganot, Ketziot, Gilboa, Megiddo, Nitzan and Eshel. The report revealed that a 45-year-old Palestinian prisoner was transferred to Soroka Medical Center in June after being shot with rubber bullets. According to medical records, the prisoner sustained injuries to several parts of his body, including his testicles. He required surgery to remove his right testicle after it was completely ruptured. In another case, a prisoner suffered a fracture to his left leg after being shot at close range. Medical records confirmed that he was transferred to Soroka Medical Center, where he underwent surgery to stabilize the fracture. The report also cited other injuries to the legs, abdomen, pelvis and hands. Prisoners said they had been shot during raids carried out by guards or inside prison wings and cells. Some reported that they had not received medical examinations after being injured or had been denied appropriate treatment. In one testimony, a prisoner at Ofer Prison said he had refused to return to his cell in protest against being denied treatment for scabies for months. He added that guards responded by shooting at him and using an electric stun device on his head. After documenting the cases, the two organizations contacted the Israeli government's legal adviser and senior officials at the Israel Prison Service, calling for an end to the “uncontrolled use of gunfire against prisoners.” They also called for disclosure of the types of weapons and ammunition used and the instructions governing their use. In its response, the Israel Prison Service acknowledged using “less-lethal means” against prisoners. It also rejected the demand for a comprehensive halt to their use. Muhannad Abu Ghosh, head of the prisoners and detainees department at Physicians for Human Rights–Israel, said shooting at prisoners was not a new phenomenon but added that the recent period had witnessed an “unprecedented escalation” in its use. He warned that the growing use of these means threatened prisoners' lives and could cause permanent harm. Meanwhile, attorney Merav Ben Ze'ev, head of the legal department at the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, criticized the Israel Prison Service's response. Ben Ze'ev said the committee was considering taking further action against the practice, saying it “endangered prisoners' lives and constituted another means of torture.” Around 9,350 Palestinians, including 350 children and 90 women, are being held in Israeli prisons, where human rights groups have reported widespread torture, starvation and medical neglect, contributing to dozens of deaths in custody.