The Palestinian Prisoner Club: 15 Palestinian journalists are imprisoned in Israeli prisons

The Palestinian Prisoners Club said in its annual report issued on the eve of the "World Press Freedom Day" that was approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993 and falls on May 3 of each year, that 15 Palestinian journalists are languishing in Israeli prisons.

A Palestinian committee concerned with prisoners' affairs reported on Monday that 15 Palestinian journalists are in Israeli prisons.

This came in a report issued by the (non-governmental) Prisoner's Club, on the eve of the "World Press Freedom Day" approved by the United Nations General Assembly in 1993, which falls on May 3 of each year.

The report said that "the occupation authorities continue to detain 15 journalists in their prisons, including the administratively detained journalist, Bushra Al-Taweel."

He added that "Israel imposes harsh detention conditions on journalists, like all male and female prisoners in the occupation prisons."

The Prisoner's Club indicated that the Israeli authorities also continue to "prosecute and harass Palestinian journalists."

He stated that since late 2015, Israel has arrested hundreds of Palestinians under the so-called "incitement" on social media.

The club explained that these arrests affected journalists, students, academics and activists.

On Wednesday, the International Federation of Journalists, the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate and the International Center for Justice for Palestinians (ICIP) announced that they had submitted a complaint to the International Criminal Court accusing Israel of committing "war crimes" against journalists in the Palestinian territories.

These bodies said in a joint statement published by the International Federation of Journalists on its website, that "the Office of the Public Prosecutor of the Court in the Palestinian Territories acknowledged receiving the complaint officially on April 25 last year."

According to the International Federation of Journalists, about 46 journalists have been killed in the Palestinian territories since 2000, and no one has been held accountable.

According to the documentation of the Palestinian Journalists Syndicate, 870 Israeli violations against journalists were recorded in 2021, and dozens of violations since the beginning of 2022, including the shooting of journalists.

On hunger strike for the 60th day The health condition of Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawda has deteriorated

Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawda said that his health condition is deteriorating in the occupation prisons, in a message he sent to his family.

The Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike Khalil Awawda said on Sunday that his health condition continues to deteriorate, as the Israeli Ramle prison administration refuses to transfer him to the hospital.

This came in a letter that Awawda, who has been on hunger strike for 60 days in refusal of his administrative detention, sent to his family on the occasion of Eid al-Fitr, and Anatolia received a copy of the message through the (non-governmental) Palestinian Prisoner Club.

Administrative detention is a military decision to imprison without trial for a period of up to 6 months, subject to extension.

The prisoner, Awawda, stated that he suffers from severe weakness, and the inability to control his body, as well as high blurring of vision, and that 6 days ago he was able to return to drinking water after vomiting stopped.

He stated that "doctors in Ramle Clinic detention center threatened him not to transfer him to an Israeli civilian hospital, unless he lost consciousness."

He added: "My health condition is deteriorating daily, and the doctors in the so-called Ramle Hospital tell me, literally, you will stay with us until you lose consciousness, and when you lose consciousness, we will perform a resuscitation procedure for you and then transfer you to a civilian hospital."

He pointed out that he asked the prison hospital administration two days ago to help him go to the bathroom, and until this moment they have not responded to that.

He called on his family to be patient if he fell into a coma, calling for "to bring his two daughters, Tulane and Lauren, to visit him in the hospital during the coma, and to whisper in his ears to pray for him to recover, which will have a positive effect."

The prisoner also denied any positive development regarding the end of his administrative detention, stressing his continuation of the hunger strike and food aid until he attains freedom.

And he added: "I am writing this greeting to you and I am ashamed and mixed with sadness because I overwhelmed you with the joy of Eid, but despite the pain, I entrusted you with nothing but to seek an excuse for everyone who seeks to make his freedom out of his flesh and blood, after this strike, my feast will be on the day I return among you to embrace you."

Awawda, has been detained since December 27, 2021, and an administrative detention order was issued against him for a period of six months, and this is his fifth detention.

According to the Prisoner's Club, "administrative detainees have continued their boycott of Israeli courts since the beginning of this year, in rejection of the administrative detention policy."

The number of administrative prisoners is about 530, out of 4450 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, according to previous data published by institutions concerned with prisoners' affairs.​

Lavrov: Hitler has Jewish roots, and Israel summons the Russian ambassador

Statements by the Russian Foreign Minister, in which he said that the Nazi leader Hitler had Jewish roots, sparked a state of outrage in Israel, after which the Russian ambassador was summoned.

Israel on Monday denounced Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov's comments that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler had Jewish roots, and demanded Moscow apologize.

Israeli Prime Minister Naftali Bennett said: "We view Lavrov's statements with seriousness. These are untrue statements and their content is unacceptable."

He added, "This is a lie whose purpose is to accuse the Jews themselves of the most heinous crimes in history, which are crimes committed against the Jews. There is no war in our days that resembles the Nazi Holocaust. We must stop using the Holocaust for the Jewish people for political ends."

In turn, Israeli Foreign Minister Yair Lapid said that the Russian ambassador would be summoned to denounce the statements made by Lavrov on Sunday in an interview with Italian television.

Lapid told the Hebrew newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth: "These are disgraceful and unforgivable statements and a grave historical error. We expect an apology."

There was no immediate comment from the Russian embassy.

During his interview with Italy's Rite 4 channel, Lavrov was asked how Russia can claim that it needs to "eliminate Nazism" in Ukraine and the country's President Zelensky is a Jew?

Speaking through an Italian translator, Lavrov said, "When they say 'What kind of Nazism is this if we are Jews' I think Hitler also has Jewish ancestry, so it doesn't mean anything." He added, "For a long time we have heard Jewish sages say that the greatest anti-Semite is the Jews themselves."

Danny Dayan, director of Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust memorial, described Lavrov's comments as "an insult and a cruel blow to the true victims of Nazism."

In an interview with Israel's Kan radio, Dayan said that Lavrov had spread "an anti-Semitic conspiracy theory that has no basis in reality."