RAMALLAH, Palestine

A Palestinian commission has accused Israeli prison authorities of preventing detainees of observing fasting “at the right time” during the holy fasting month of Ramadan.

In a statement released Saturday night, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ Affairs said authorities at the Ofer Prison in the West Bank city of Ramallah refuse to alert detainees about the times of dawn and sunset prayers to allow prisoners to start and break their fast.

“Prisoners observe Ramadan without suhoor (a pre-dawn meal), while iftar (a fasting-breaking meal) turns into a long ordeal,” Khaled Mahajneh, a lawyer with the commission, told the official Voice of Palestine radio.

He said Palestinian detainees at Gilboa Prison in northern Israel were not alerted about the start of the fasting month of Ramadan, the holiest month in the Islamic lunar calendar.

He said one of the prisoners learned of the Ramadan start while attending an Israeli court session.

“For more than two years, Palestinian detainees are forced to eat only food scraps for iftar,” Mahajneh said.

"The occupation is trying to erase the joy of Palestinian prisoners of religious occasions, and deliberately makes the joy of their families incomplete and painful over the abuse and torture of their sons behind bars,” he added.

More than 9,300 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including 350 children, and they face torture, starvation, and medical neglect that has led to the deaths of dozens, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights organizations.

*Writing by Rania Abushamala in Istanbul