Israel has begun to impose stricter conditions on Hamas prisoners in its jails, the head of the prisons authority told the government on Sunday. Prison officials "have begun applying some of the findings of a commission" established to study how Israel could impose harsher conditions on detained Islamists, a government official quoted Benny Kaniak as telling the cabinet.
He did not outline what steps were being taken. Outgoing Justice Minister Daniel Friedman established the commission, which has yet to issue its findings, to study ways of making life harder for Hamas prisoners after the March 17 collapse of talks with the Islamists on a swap.
The indirect negotiations, which have since resumed in Egypt, centred on the release of Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit, seized by Gaza militants in June 2006, in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners. Angered by the collapse of the talks to free Shalit - a 23-year-old who has not been seen in public or allowed Red Cross visits since his capture - some Israeli officials called for a worsening of conditions for Hamas prisoners as a way of pressuring the Islamists.
Among the steps reportedly being considered were limiting cash transfers to prisoners, restricting their access to television and radio, reducing visiting rights - except for those from the International Committee of the Red Cross - and opportunities for education as well as limiting contact between them. The human rights group Public Committee Against Torture in Israel called on the justice minister to avoid steps that would worsen prison conditions, branding any such move as "unlawful collective punishment."
The commission is due to present its findings to the new Israeli government next week. More than 11,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently being held in Israeli jails, according to official figures.