Israeli guards use dogs, sticks, teargas during night raids against prisoners

Ma'an – Palestinians detained in Israel's Megido Prison reported a series of cell raids last week, with guards ransacking living areas in search of mobile phones, the PA Ministry of Detainees Affairs said Tuesday.

A statement from the ministry said guards initiated the searches after midnight, entered cells, hit prisoners with sticks and launched tear-gas canisters inside cells, causing injuries to several detainees.

"The prison guards allege that they are looking for cell phones, but they are carrying out these raids to humiliate the detainees," the statement said.

One detainee from Tulkarem, identified as Musa Khouli, was quoted in the statement, saying the number of night raids has increased recently inside the Megido prison, and added that on some occasions the troops bring dogs in to sniff out the cells.

Megido was not the only prison where cell raids were conducted at midnight, the statement added, quoting a detainee identified as Hani Yousef Abul Sba, incarcerated at Israel's Ofer Prison, who said guards there had also recently begun night raids.