SHAFAQNA – As 1,800 Palestinian prisoners Friday entered their 19th day of hunger strike in Israeli jails, Palestinians made calls to step up solidarity marches and sit-ins across the West Bank.
The committee also called on Palestinians to “gather for Friday prayer in many solidarity tents, public spaces and friction areas across the various West Bank districts.
This call came a day after the committee announced that the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) transferred all 41 hunger strikers from Ashkelon prison to Ohalei Keidar prison in the Naqab desert.
Some 1,500 out of 6,500 Palestinians held by Israel launched a mass indefinite hunger strike on April 17, only consuming salt and water during the strike, without additives or supplements.
The hunger strikers have denounced the torture, ill treatment and medical negligence of Palestinian prisoners by Israeli authorities.
They have also denounced Israel’s widely-condemned practice of administrative detention, which allows for internment without trial or charge for six-month intervals that can be renewed indefinitely.
Initially called for by Fatah-affiliated prisoners, most notably imprisoned senior Fatah official Marwan Barghouthi, the strike has been joined by other prisoners from various Palestinian political factions.