RAMALLAH (Anadolu) –
Palestinians staged a rally in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday to demand the release of hunger-striking detainees in the Zionist regime’s jails.
Protesters gathered outside the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in al-Bireh city, waving banners calling for the release of detainees held without charge or trial.
Six Palestinians have staged an open-ended hunger strike in protest of their imprisonment under the Zionist regime’s so-called administrative detention policy, with the oldest hunger striker Kayed al-Fasfous entering his 111 day on hunger strike.
“There is a real risk to the lives of the hunger strikers,” Qadura Fares, the head of the Palestinian Prisoner Society NGO, told Anadolu Agency.
He called for rallying diplomatic and political efforts to pressure the occupying regime to release the detainees.
The highly controversial policy, used almost exclusively against Palestinians, allows for detention without charge or trial for renewable periods of three to six months, without the possibility of appeal or knowing what accusations are being leveled against the detained.
Many Palestinian prisoners have resorted to hunger strikes to protest against the policy.
The supreme command council for the captives of the Palestinian Hamas resistance movement has also voiced concern over the heath of Palestinian prisoners in the Zionist regime’s jails who have gone on hunger strike, declaring the start of “a struggle program” in support of the hunger strikers.
In a statement issued on Monday, the council announced that it has launched “a struggle program” to support the administrative detainees who are on a hunger strike.
According to the statement, the program begins by closing the prisons’ sections for two hours starting from 10:30 am to 12:30 pm.
“The [Zionist] occupation bears full responsibility for the lives of captives on hunger strike,” the council said, describing the health condition of the hunger strikers as “serious” and “can’t be tolerated”.
More than 7,000 Palestinians are reportedly held in the occupying regime’s jails. Hundreds have been incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention.
Some Palestinian prisoners have even been held in administrative detention for up to eleven years.