Tear gas clouds rise from inside Ofer prison during clashes between Palestinian prisoners and Israeli prison guards, outside the West Bank city of Ramallah December 20, 2008. According to an Israeli prison service spokesperson, eight prisoners and two Israeli guards were injured and a tent set ablaze as riots broke out after guards wanted to conduct a search on Saturday. [Photo: Xinhua/Reuters]

Eight Palestinian prisoners and two Israeli prison's guards were injured during clashes in Israel' s Ofer Prison in the West Bank on Saturday.

Prisoners from inside Ofer prison told reporters on cellular phones that they were protesting an earlier search of prisoner property which damaged the living quarters of the prisoners.

They said that in response to the protest, dozens of Israeli soldiers fired rounds of rubber coated bullets and tear gas canisters on the prisoners, who set fire to some of the tents inside the prison.

They reported from inside their prison that several prisoners with heart problems or breathing difficulties were suffocated as the Israeli soldiers fired dozens of gas canisters at the prisoners.

Other prisoners reported that they have been harshly beaten by Israeli soldiers, saying many were forced out of their living areas and taken to solitary confinement cells.

According to the prisoners estimates, around 400 prisoners participated in the clashes.

The Palestinian Prisoners Society chief Abedelal al-Anani described what happened as a dangerous destabilization of condition, adding that "the soldiers used water hoses, gas bombs and rubber coated bullets to repress the prisoners."