RAMALLAH, Monday, November 23, 2020 (WAFA) - A Palestinian prisoner behind Israeli bars at the Etzion detention center in the Gush Etzion settlement bloc between Bethlehem and Hebron, has tested positive for the novel coronavirus COVID-19, the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission confirmed on Monday.

Commission lawyer, Jakleen Fararjeh, said prisoner Yousif Mousa, from Birzeit town to the north of Ramallah, was transferred to Ramala prison, in central Israel, after being infected with the coronavirus.

The Israeli Prison Service at the detention center announced its cancelation of all lawyers’ visits and a halt on the intake of new prisoners for a period of 16 days.

There are 21 Palestinian prisoners currently being incarcerated at Etzion detention center under very difficult living conditions in cold and crowded cells that lack basic humanitarian standards.

Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention states that prisoners and detainees should enjoy conditions of food and hygiene sufficient to maintaining good health, which should be “at least equal to those obtaining in prisons in the occupied country.”

Article 85 also emphasizes that the detaining power is bound to take all necessary and possible measures to ensure that protected persons shall, from the outset of their internment, be accommodated in buildings or quarters which afford every possible safeguard from humidity, and with sufficient warmth and lighting, in addition to having sufficient sleeping space and ventilation.

T.R.