Number of Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike reaches 1,500

Jerusalem, April 18: The number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who launched on Monday an open-ended hunger strike has reached 1,500, the strikers’ Media Committee of Freedom and Dignity said Tuesday.
The media committee said prisoners from all Palestinian political factions are participating in the strike spearheaded by Marwan Barghouti, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and Fatah Central Committee, as well as Karim Younis and Maher Younis, the oldest and longest-serving detainees held since 1983, and Diaa al-Agha, held since before the signing of the 1993 Oslo accords.
The committee said the hunger strikers aim at restoring many of their rights that were stripped by the Israeli prison authorities.
In order to thwart the detainees’ strike, the prison authorities moved leaders of the strike to new locations; confiscated personal belongings of the striking prisoners; transformed the prisoners’ rooms into isolation cells; set up a field hospital in Naqab Desert to deal with the strikers as they will not be taken to regular Israeli hospitals; and blocked local and Arab TV channels.
AB/IINA