clear

Creating new perspectives since 2009

400 Hamas prisoners to join 34-day-long mass hunger strike on Thursday

May 28, 2014 at 1:26 pm

Former Minister of Prisoners and Freed Prisoners Wasfi Qabha said on Wednesday that all Hamas prisoners in the three main Israeli prisons are going to join the prisoners’ mass hunger strike, which has been continuous now for 34 days, Palestine Online news reported.

Qabha, a former administrative prisoner himself, wrote on his Facebook page that this opens the way for convicted prisoners to show solidarity with their fellow administrative prisoners.

“Three of Hamas’s leaders inside Israeli jails, Hassan Salameh, Mahmoud Shreetih and Mohamed Sabha, joined the hunger strike last week,” said Qabha. “On Thursday, around 400 Hamas prisoners are going to join the strike in order to put more pressure on the Israeli authorities.”

In addition to the three Hamas leaders, dozens of other prisoners have joined the hunger strike at different stages since the beginning of the strike on 24 April.

Commenting on this measure, Qabha explained that this shows how all the Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli jails are united and feel the same level responsibility. “This should inspire united national measures outside the prisons from all Palestinian parties and institutions,” he added.

At the same time, he noted that the national solidarity actions against administrative detention and in solidarity with the hunger strikers has so far not matched the sacrifices of the prisoners. He thus called upon Palestinian officials to be more involved in the prisoners’ issue.