Palestinians mark Prisoners Day in Ramallah, Gaza

Hundreds of Palestinians have demonstrated in the occupied West Bank and the Gaza Strip to mark Palestinian Prisoners Day and show support for the Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

People gathered at Yasser Arafat Square in the center of Ramallah on Sunday to voice their anger at the Israeli regime’s detention of Palestinians, including children.

The protesters were carrying Palestinian flag and posters of Palestinian prisoners.

Ramallah governor Laila Ghannam, who was among the protesters, called for the release of Palestinians from Israeli jails and said all Palestinian officials, including Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, have been trying to secure the freedom of prisoners.

Issa Qaraqa’, the minister of prisoners affairs, asked UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon to launch an investigation into Israel’s violations of international law.

In Gaza, people also marked the day, marching from the city’s main square toward the International Committee of Red Cross headquarters. Protesters chanted anti-Israel slogans and promised to continue their fight against the Zionist regime.

Prisoners Day is commemorated every year in solidarity with the more than 7,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails. Some 320 of the detainees are children aged under 16.

At least 1,700 ill Palestinian prisoners are currently languishing in Israeli jails and detention facilities, 25 of them are suffering from cancer.

Israel has reportedly arrested more than one million Palestinians, which is one in every four Palestinians, since the 1967 occupation of the Palestinian territory.

Hundreds of Palestinian inmates have been apparently incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention, under which Palestinian inmates are kept in Israeli detention facilities without trial or charge.

The Palestinian inmates regularly hold hunger strikes in protest at both the administrative detention policy and harsh prison conditions.

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk