By DPA
Tel Aviv : At least 30 people were injured early Monday when hundreds of jailed Palestinian militants stirred a riot in Israel’s southern Ketziot prison, a spokeswoman for the Israel Prisons Authority said.
She said the riot erupted when security forces entered the facility to carry out a routine search. Some 1,000 Palestinian prisoners began throwing objects at the forces and set fire to ten of the tents where they are being held.
The tents in the facility are stacked closely together and fires posed a “real danger,” she said.
The prison guards overpowered the rioters in about one hour, while extinguishing the fires and evacuating the prisoners.
She said 15 prisoners were injured, four of whom needed hospitalisation, among them one in serious condition. Another 15 prison guards were also lightly injured, one of whom was hospitalised.
The Ketziot prison in the southern Israeli Negev desert houses some 2,200 of the around 10,000 Palestinian militants jailed in Israel. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has made their release a top priority.