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News ID: 38970
Publish Date : 30 April 2017 - 20:49

Mass Hunger Strike by Palestinian Prisoners Enters 2nd Week



WEST BANK (Dispatches) – An open-ended mass hunger strike by Palestinians to draw the world's attention to harsh conditions at the Zionist regime’s prisons has entered its second week, with some of those refusing food experiencing health decline.
The media committee of the hunger strike, dubbed the Freedom and Dignity Strike, said that several of the hunger-striking inmates had lost 10 kilograms of their weight, the Palestinian Ma'an news agency reported on Sunday.
A number of the hunger strikers held in the Zionist regime’s Ofer prison are suffering from low blood pressure, severe headaches as well as stomach and joint problems, the report added.
It further noted that the regime’s authorities do not allow the Palestinian prisoners to drink cool water and instead force them to drink warm water.
On Sunday, Palestinian churches were expected to ring bells in solidarity with the hunger strikers.
Palestinians have taken part in sit-in protests in the occupied West Bank in a show of solidarity with prisoners on an open-ended hunger strike in the Zionist regime’s jails.
People gathered in the West Bank city of Bethlehem to show their support for some 1,500 incarcerated Palestinians, who have been on hunger strike for 13 days.
Tents were also erected throughout the occupied Palestinian territories for people to show their support for hunger striking prisoners.
During the Bethlehem protest, the head of the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs, Issa Qaraqe, stressed that solidarity activities would continue for the prisoners, who have entered a dangerous stage in their hunger strike.
Elsewhere, Palestinian Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah visited a protest tent in the West Bank city of al-Khalil where he called on world powers to pressure the Tel Aviv regime into responding positively to the hunger strikers’ demands.   
"The United Nations should not remain silent about Israeli violations against prisoners and Palestinian people,” he said.
Meanwhile, some 100 more Palestinian prisoners being held in the occupying regime’s Megiddo prison have joined the hunger strike.
A lawyer for the Palestinian Committee for Prisoners’ Affairs, Loay Akkeh, said that Israel Prison Service was continuing its crackdown on the hunger striking prisoners.
He noted that punitive measures were being enforced to "break the will” of the prisoners and make them halt their strike.
On Friday, dozens of people were injured when clashes broke out between Palestinians demonstrating in solidarity with the prisoners and Zionist troopos across the occupied West Bank.
Since April 17, over 1,500 Palestinian prisoners have gone on a mass hunger strike in protest at the conditions of the regime’s prisons initially called for by former Fatah leader, Marwan Barghouti.
Palestinian inmates regularly stage hunger strikes in protest at the regime’s administrative detention policy and their harsh prison conditions.