Fearing terror attack, prisons raise alert level to highest

Move comes after IDF’s retaliatory strike on Gaza

The Prisons Service on Thursday raised the alert on all prisons containing security prisoners to its highest level, fearing an attack on the guards.

The move comes after the IDF struck weapon production and storage facilities in Gaza overnight on Thursday, responding to rockets fired from the Strip throughout the night.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad appeared to take responsibility for the volley on Wednesday night, writing on pieces of paper attached to the rockets that “[harming] female prisoners is a redline,” in a video released shortly after the rocket launch.

However, the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine also took responsibility, saying it had launched rocket salvos at Israel early on Thursday in response to the airstrikes and the “systematic aggression” against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

According to the video, the attack was a direct response to another video published by a Palestinian female prisoner in Damon Prison, who called on Palestinian terrorist groups to “show determination to teach the enemy not to harm our women” after she claimed she was mistreated in the Israeli prison.

National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir this week ordered a halt to Palestinian security prisoners working in bread bakeries in two jails, saying he was canceling “benefits and indulgences”. He added: “The death penalty should be enacted for terrorists but until then, they should be treated as terrorists.”

Israeli prison authorities have allowed some leeway to political prisoners in exchange for cooperation in turning out for roll calls, cleaning their own corridors and vacating cells when guards come for checks. If inmates stopped doing these things in protest, running prisons smoothly would get harder.

But Ben-Gvir has made clear that he has little interest in such arrangements, opening the way for a confrontation, Palestinian groups warn, stoking an already tense situation.

“We are heading towards an intifada unless mediators intervene and end the criminal policies of Ben-Gvir that are driving the region to an explosion,” Hamas official Mushir Al-Masri told a Gaza rally in support of women prisoners.

Defense Minister Yoav Gallant confirmed the airstrikes, saying “any shooting at the State of Israel or any attempt to harm the lives of the residents of the South will be met with the strength of the IDF.”

The IDF said on Thursday that the Iron Dome wasn’t activated, as 11 rockets hit the open ground or exploded mid-air, while another firing attempt failed.

Unless the prison standoff is resolved, said Kadora Fares, head of the Palestinian Prisoners Society, prisoners will hold a mass hunger strike from March 22, at the start of Ramadan, traditionally a time of heightened tensions.

Added to stricter measures imposed in a number of jails and reports of clashes after guards confiscated electronic devices belonging to some women prisoners this week, Ben-Gvir’s tough approach sets up a confrontation with a group that enjoys strong popular support among Palestinians.

The actions taken by the Prisons Service and Ben-Gvir prompted Qadri Abu Bakr, chairman of the Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission, to declare that Ben-Gvir’s plans could lead to a “general insurrection” in Israeli prisons.

Also, early Thursday, the IDF issued a Home Front Command warning for residents of Psagot, just east of Ramallah.

The military advised all residents to remain in their homes and to lock their doors and windows, and all traffic was closed off in the area and motorists were advised to stay away.

The IDF issued the alert after a bag was found containing a knife and other “suspicious” items, it said, adding that soldiers are currently sweeping the area of the settlement to locate possible intruders.