Clashes erupt in Israeli-run prison

Clashes erupt in Israeli-run prison

Israeli police entered Ofer prison outside Ramallah to quell the riot which erupted on Saturday [Reuters] At least seven Palestinian detainees and three Israeli guards have been injured in a prison riot, according to Yaron Zamir, a prison service spokesman. The clashes in the Ofer detention centre near the West Bank town of Ramallah erupted on Saturday when dozens of Palestinian inmates started throwing objects at guards who had entered to search a prison ward, Zamir said. "Following the violence a larger force was sent into the ward and order was restored shortly afterwards," he told the AFP news agency. Seven prisoners injured after inhaling tear gas were treated at the jail. Three guards were lightly injured by objects thrown at them, Zamir said. More than 11,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, many of them detained for long periods without trial. Nour Odeh, Al Jazeera's correspodent reporting from Ramallah, said: "Palestinian detainees inside the miltary camp tried to prevent Israeli prison authorities from raiding their sections and undertaking a search of the wards. "We have heard repeatedly from these detainees about the humiliation they undergo on a daily basis during these searches. "And it was at this point they [inmates] wanted to protest against the measures undertaken by the Israeli prison authorities." She said that calm appears to have been restored and situation brought under control. But it is unclear whether the Israeli authorities will respond to the Palestinian prisoners' frustrations and grievances after the latest incident. Gaza fatality In the Gaza Strip, meanwhile, a Palestinian man has been killed in an Israeli missile attack - the first death since the end of a six-month-old ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, which controls the Palestinian territory. Ali Hijazi, 22, and two other men who were wounded in Saturday's incident were members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, witnesses said. IN VIDEO Palestinian fighters ready to fight Israeli forces on high alert at border Truce no protection for Sderot Gaza residents suffer under truce The air raid targeted a group of fighters firing rockets towards Israel, an Israeli military official said. The attack in Beit Lahiya in the northern Gaza Strip came a day after the end of the ceasefire. Sherine Tadros, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Gaza, said: "The [Israeli] military told us that six projectiles have been launched from the Gaza Strip towards southern Israel. "This is coming as very sad news for the people here who once again find themselves in the position they were in before the ceasefire, in terms of this almost daily aggression by Israel and very uncertain times in terms of what will happen next. "From the Israeli side they have said that ... as long as there is peace from the Palestinian side they will respond with peace. But if there is aggression by Palestinian factions, they will fight back with force." A ceasefire agreed in June officially ended at daybreak on Friday, after Hamas said it would not renew it. Hamas blamed Israelis for the failure of the ceasefire, saying that they had not lived up to their obligations under the deal by continuing a blockade of the Gaza Strip.