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Gazans express solidarity with hunger-striking Palestinians behind Israeli bars

Monday, 25 July 2022 2:35 PM [ Last Update: Monday, 25 July 2022 2:54 PM ]

Ashraf Shannon
Press TV, Gaza

A big sit-in was held inside the Red Cross Office in the blockaded Gaza Strip on Monday in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners on hunger-strike.

On Sunday, scores of Palestinian prisoners started a mass hunger strike to support two of their fellow prisoners, who have been on hunger strike for several months to protest their administrative detention.

Around five hundred Palestinian prisoners are being held without charge or trial under the so-called administrative detention while their incarceration periods can be renewed indefinitely.

Some prisoners have been held in administrative detention for more than ten years.

Their only recourse to draw attention to their plight has been hunger strikes.

Among them, Khalil Awawdeh has been refusing food since March and Raed Rayyan has adopted the same passive resistance approach since April.

Currently, some five thousand Palestinian prisoners are held in 24 Israeli prisons and detention centers. Families of Palestinian prisoners have slammed the silence of the international community over the plight of their loved ones.

Prisoners’ advocacy groups also condemned Israel’s treatment of the Palestinian prisoners who are are subjected to inhumane and degrading conditions, including solitary confinement, and bans on family visits.

Many here believe that the support Israel enjoys from some countries like the United States gives it the green light to act in contradiction with international law regarding the treatment of prisoners.

Statistics show that the Israeli regime has arrested around one million Palestinians since 1967 including women and minors, among them some fifty thousand administrative detainees.

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