Hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners struggling to stand

The health of the 1,600 hunger striking Palestinian prisoners is in danger as they are now on the 23rd day of their strike, the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs warned today.

Prisoners have started to fall due to waves of dizziness, severe pains and weight loss, according to a statement released by the committee.

The statement highlighted that Israeli authorities had prepared ambulances outside of every prison, and said that “the occupation’s government treats hunger strikers with such cruelty and savagery to the extent that it is willing to completely exhaust their health and lead them to death.”

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The committee accused the Israel Prison Service (IPS) of harassing hunger strikers on a daily basis.

The Israel Prison Service carries out inspection raids every day using police dogs, and they spill water on prisoners instead of giving them water to drink.

Many hunger strikers have also been placed in solitary confinement or been transferred multiple times throughout Israel’s network of prisons, faced assault, nightly cell raids, confiscation of personal belongings, inhumane detention conditions, and have even been fined hundreds of shekels as punishment for refusing meals.

The political prisoners are calling for an end to the denial of family visits, the right to pursue higher education, appropriate medical care and treatment, and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention – imprisonment without charge or trial.