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| A woman holding up a portrait of a jailed loved one takes part in a protest outside the Red Cross offices in Gaza City yesterday calling for the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israel |
Israel has taken measures against some 1,200 Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike, denying them family visits and separating them from inmates not taking part in the protest, prison authorities said yesterday.
The open-ended strike, dubbed the “battle of empty stomachs” by organisers, began last Tuesday. The prisoners are demanding better jail conditions and for Israel to end detention without trial for Palestinians suspected of security offences.
“Privileges such as family visits have been revoked and items such as electronics have been confiscated,” Sivan Weizman, a spokeswoman for the Israeli Prisons Authority, said.
Palestinian prisoners have long complained of the difficulty of securing family visits and the invasive searches visiting relatives have to go through.
The striking prisoners have said they would drink only water and salt until their demands are met.
Amani Sarahna of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, an advocacy group, said prison authorities had conducted extensive searches in hunger strikers’ cells, taking away salt from those refusing to eat.
“All the prisoners’ belongings were confiscated except their towels and their shoes,” Sarahna said.
An Israeli military court yesterday rejected appeals by two Palestinian prisoners who have been refusing food for 55 days, their lawyer and a Palestinian prisoner rights NGO said.
“We just confirmed with Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahla’s families that both their appeals were rejected today,” a spokeswoman for prisoner rights group Addameer said.
Diab, 27, and Halahla, 34, began refusing food on February 29 .