Palestinian prisoners begin hunger strike in protest of PA cuts

The longest-serving Palestinian prisoner, Nael Barghouthi, yesterday threatened to go on hunger strike in protest against the Palestinian Authority’s decision to cut the funding given to the families of Gazans detained in Israeli prisons.

In a letter, Barghouthi said the PA is discriminating against Palestinian prisoners from the Gaza Strip.

Barghouthi has served 37 years in Israeli prisoners. His first term of 33 years ended in October 2011 when he was released as part of a prisoner swap. He was re-arrested in June 2014.

Palestinian prisoners have launched an open hunger strike to protest against the PA salary cuts for families of prisoners from the Gaza Strip.

President Mahmoud Abbas imposed a series of sanctions on the Gaza Strip in April 2017 which included deducting about 50 per cent of Gaza civil servants’ salaries and halting the payments to families of prisoners from the Gaza Strip.

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