Prof Veronica Cohen and friends gather for vigil to draw attention to poor treatment faced by Palestinian prisoners

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A Holocaust survivor has chosen to mark her 80th birthday on Friday by bringing her friends together for a solidarity vigil outside an Israeli prison where hundreds of Palestinian inmates arrested after the 7 October attack are being held.

Prof Veronica Cohen, who was born in the Jewish ghetto of Budapest and was saved by what she has described as “a series of miracles”, turned her birthday into a protest in front of Neve Tirtza women’s prison in Ramla.