Palestinian prisoners plan one-day hunger strike on Monday

Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails plan to go on a one-day hunger strike on Monday to show solidarity with three prisoners who still refuse to eat as part of a mass hunger strike, which continued for weeks and has largely ended, in protest of Israeli detention policies. The plan was reported by the Palestinian Ma’an news agency.

Palestinian Minister for Prisoner Affairs Issa Qaraqe said Israeli prison authorities were aware of the inmates’ intentions.

A weeks-long hunger strike among some 1,600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails ended last month after Israel promised to increase access to family members and end punitive solitary confinement, among other measures.

In return, the Palestinian prisoner leaders agreed to not engage in militant activity in prison or launch new hunger strikes.

Qaraqe warned last Sunday that prisoners were threatening to relaunch a mass hunger strike in protest of the fact that Israel, they claim, has not come through on promises to ease conditions for detainees.

“There are still provocations in the prisons, and the prisoners are threatening to resume the strike if the situation remains as it is,” Qaraqe said at a press conference in Ramallah.

“Israel has begun to violate the deal it signed with the prisoners, and within 10 days after announcing the end of the strike, Israel renewed administrative detention orders for approximately 30 prisoners,” Qaraqe charged.