MIDDLE EAST

Palestinians stage hunger strike to protest Israel’s detention policy

Administrative detention policy allows Israeli authorities to extend detention of a prisoner without charge or trial

Members of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad Movement march from the Khan Yunis Refugee Camp in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, in Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip on September 27, 2021.. AA

H. J. I. / AA

Seven Palestinian inmates in Israeli prisons have staged a hunger strike to protest their detention without trial, a Palestinian NGO said on Monday.

In a statement, the Palestinian Prisoners Society said the detainees include two who are being hospitalized.

- The [Israeli] occupation continues its intransigence and refusal to respond to their demand of ending their administrative detention, in an attempt to bring the striking prisoners to a difficult and dangerous health stage - the NGO said.

The policy of administrative detention allows Israeli authorities to extend the detention of a prisoner without charge or trial.

There are around 4,850 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, including 520 administrative detainees, according to institutions concerned with prisoners’ affairs.