Daily Times

The Prisoners and Freed Prisoners Affairs Authority said yesterday that the Israeli Prisons Administration and the Israeli Ministry of Health have denied reports that four Palestinian detainees had tested positive for the coronavirus.

It further said that its legal staff had contacted the Israeli prison administration and Arab members of the Knesset, who in turn contacted the Israeli health ministry, to confirm earlier reports claiming that four Palestinian prisoners in Megiddo prison had been infected with coronavirus.

It explained that four Palestinian prisoners had been isolated on suspicion of contracting the virus after having been in contact with an ill prisoner last week. However, they did not show any symptoms.

Section (4) in the prison has been vacated and converted in to a quarantine and medical examination area, it added.

Notably, in a statement released on Thursday, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) claimed that four prisoners in the Megiddo prison had tested positive for the virus, sparking fears that the respiratory disease could spread quickly amongst the prison population.

The group alleged that a prisoner contracted the virus from an Israeli officer during interrogation at the Petah Tikva interrogation center, and then transferred the virus to three other prisoners.

Israeli authorities quickly refuted the claims, saying that four prisoners were suspected of having the virus and were being held in quarantine, but had not actually tested positive for COVID-19.