https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-06-26/ty-article/.premium/israel-reduces-food-for-palestinian-security-prisoners-conceals-data-sources-say/00000190-542e-de5e-abd0-ff7ee9580000

Israel Reduces Food for Palestinian Security Prisoners, Conceals Data, Sources Say

Jun 26, 2024 5:52 pm IDT
Since Oct. 7, prisoners reported weight loss due to drastic food reductions in the prisons, to the point of starvation. As Israel's top court hears a petition filed on the matter, far-right Minister Ben-Gvir states this is a 'deterrent measure'

Israeli security sources say that the Israel Prison Service has been concealing information about the amount of food given to security prisoners since the start of the war, Haaretz has learned.

The sources say that the Prison Service has been harshly criticized in several recent closed discussions, in the wake of a petition filed by the Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) and being heard on Wednesday by the High Court of Justice.

In a letter to the petitioners, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir called this a deterrent measure – but Attorney General Gali Baharav-Miara and the State Prosecutor's Office's High Court department declined to include this argument in the state's official response to the Court.

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The petition was filed following the dozens of testimonies from security prisoners and detainees who are not connected with Hamas that the Prison Service has significantly reduced their food rations, to the point of starvation, causing them to shed dozens of kilograms. Some of the testimonies are from people who were arrested but have not been tried, and also from administrative detainees.