Palestinian inmates on hunger strike in support of fellow prisoners

The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) says 50 Palestinian prisoners from the movement of Fatah and Islamic Jihad have gone on an open hunger strike in solidarity with their fellow inmates Muhammad and Mahmoud Balboul and Malek al-Qadi.

The rights group said the prisoners were held in the Israeli prisons of Negev, Nafha, Ofer, and Raymond.

According to the report, Balboul brothers and Qadi have been on hunger strike since July in protest against their administration detention and are in a critical condition.

Issa Qaraqe, the head of the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs (PCPA), urged the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) to intervene in order to save the lives of the three men. He said Qadi had slipped into a coma.

Qaraqe also called on the UN to take action to put an end to Israel’s policy of administrative detention and the regime’s ill-treatment of Palestinian prisoners in violation of UN resolutions and international humanitarian law.

He also referred to the deteriorating health conditions of Muhammad and Mahmoud Balboul.

There are reportedly more than 6,500 Palestinians held in Israeli jails.

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

Some Palestinian prisoners have been held under administrative detention for up to eleven years.

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