900 Palestinians in Israeli jail refuse meals to support inmates on hunger strike

Palestinians in Gaza protest in solidarity in solidarity with hunger striker Hisham Abu Hawash on 2 January 2022 [Mohammed Asad/Middle East Monitor]

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners at an Israeli jail in the occupied West Bank are refusing their meals on Thursday in a show of solidarity with 30 fellow inmates who are on a hunger strike, Anadolu News Agency reports.

Some 900 Palestinians are taking part in the protest at the Ofer prison located near Ramallah, according to the Palestinian Prisoner Society, a local NGO.

Since 25 September, 30 prisoners at Ofer, most of them members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, have been on hunger strike to protest their detention without any charges or trials.

Under Israel’s policy of administrative detention, it can hold a person in custody without a charge or trial for six months, which can be extended indefinitely.

According to Palestinian figures, there are around 4,650 Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, including at least 780 held without charge or trial.

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