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Israel ‘trying to kill' hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners

Palestinians gather bearing portraits of jailed relatives during a demonstration in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike in Israeli jails on August 10, 2015, in the occupied West Bank city of al-Khalil (Hebron). (AFP photo)

Israeli authorities are attempting to kill hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners by denying them treatment, a Palestinian committee says.

In a statement released on Sunday, the Palestinian Authority's committee for prisoners said the Israeli regime is "trying to kill" inmates who have been on hunger for nearly six weeks.  

“Israeli government is wearing down the prisoners on purpose in order to force them to end their hunger strike by depriving them of medical treatment and sending them to prison wards where criminal prisoners are being held,” the statement said.

The statement came after Israeli authorities turned down the committee's requests for at least seven Palestinian hunger strikers to be transferred to hospital for treatment. 

The men have been consuming only water, and have refused any other supplements, the statement said, noting that the prisoners have lost "all power and strength."

The prisoners are said to be protesting their so-called administrative detention in the Nafha jail in southern Israel.

In this file photo, Israeli forces detain a Palestinian child in East al-Quds (Jerusalem) following clashes in the Israeli-occupied Old City. (© Reuters)

 

The administrative detention is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians for up to six months. The detention order can be renewed for indefinite periods of time.

The United Nations human rights office and several rights groups have repeatedly voiced concerns over Israel’s administrative detention, calling on Tel Aviv to end the unlawful practice of detaining Palestinians without charge or trial.

Israel is holding over 400 Palestinians in administrative detention.Many Palestinians have gone on hunger strike to protest the practice.

More than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in some 17 Israeli jails, dozens of whom are serving multiple life sentences.


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