A group of Palestinians rounded up by Egyptian security forces are threatening suicide if they are not soon released either to the Gaza Strip or a life of dignity in Egypt.
About 500 Gazans are still being held as prisoners in a sports complex in the border city of Al-Arish. Egyptian police arrested them after they did not return to Gaza when the border was resealed earlier this month following a brief period of unrestricted cross-border movement.
Several of the detained Palestinians have called Ma'an's office in Gaza, claiming that conditions in the sports center are appalling, lacking basic medical supplies, food, and clean water.
The Egyptian security officers reportedly responded to the suicide threat, "Do whatever you like; we have orders to gather you then transfer you back to the Gaza Strip." However, the transfer has not yet taken place.
One of the stranded Gazans, 21-year-old Khalid Abu Hasira asked in a telephone call to Ma'an, "Will the death of one of us end our suffering?" He also inquired critically about the absence of intervention on the part of the Palestinian embassy in Cairo.
He added that yesterday he threatened to jump from the roof of the building, and an Egyptian officer told him that he will get an ambulance to evacuate him. The man said he suffered an injury in his knee, and needed to replace the bandage in a hospital, but that he would not be allowed to go to hospital in Egypt.
He also added that he was interrogated in an Egyptian detention center along with five other people, including an elderly man, and that they underwent very rough treatment and that 6,000 US dollars were stolen from one of them.
A 23-year-old Gazan called 'Adil Atallah said that he was captured at Nasser governmental hospital one day after he was operated on. He said that he was treated badly by the security forces, while he was urgently in need for rest after the operation. He is supposed to undergo another operation, which he would prefer to skip if he is allowed home.
Thirty-five-year-old Ayman Ash-Sha'ir from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip said his cell-phone was stolen when he was brought to the sport club in Al-Arish.
About 500 Gazans are still being held as prisoners in a sports complex in the border city of Al-Arish. Egyptian police arrested them after they did not return to Gaza when the border was resealed earlier this month following a brief period of unrestricted cross-border movement.
Several of the detained Palestinians have called Ma'an's office in Gaza, claiming that conditions in the sports center are appalling, lacking basic medical supplies, food, and clean water.
The Egyptian security officers reportedly responded to the suicide threat, "Do whatever you like; we have orders to gather you then transfer you back to the Gaza Strip." However, the transfer has not yet taken place.
One of the stranded Gazans, 21-year-old Khalid Abu Hasira asked in a telephone call to Ma'an, "Will the death of one of us end our suffering?" He also inquired critically about the absence of intervention on the part of the Palestinian embassy in Cairo.
He added that yesterday he threatened to jump from the roof of the building, and an Egyptian officer told him that he will get an ambulance to evacuate him. The man said he suffered an injury in his knee, and needed to replace the bandage in a hospital, but that he would not be allowed to go to hospital in Egypt.
He also added that he was interrogated in an Egyptian detention center along with five other people, including an elderly man, and that they underwent very rough treatment and that 6,000 US dollars were stolen from one of them.
A 23-year-old Gazan called 'Adil Atallah said that he was captured at Nasser governmental hospital one day after he was operated on. He said that he was treated badly by the security forces, while he was urgently in need for rest after the operation. He is supposed to undergo another operation, which he would prefer to skip if he is allowed home.
Thirty-five-year-old Ayman Ash-Sha'ir from Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip said his cell-phone was stolen when he was brought to the sport club in Al-Arish.
