48 captives continue solidarity hunger strike

A mass hunger strike across Israeli prisons continued on Saturday in protest of Israel’s detention of Palestinians without charge or trial, with at least 48 Palestinian prisoners now participating in the open hunger strike in support of hunger-striking prisoners Bilal Kayid and brothers Muhammad and Mahmud al-Balboul, according to a statement released by the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs.

The committee said in a statement that solidarity hunger strikes are continuing to put pressure on the Israeli prison administration and government to comply with the demands of the striking prisoners and to end Israel’s controversial policy of administrative detention -- internment without charge or trial based on undisclosed evidence almost exclusively used against Palestinian detainees.

Head of the committee Issa Qaraqe called for a wide-scale action in all Palestinian cities to support the hunger-strikers in the statement, saying that the mission of the hunger-strikers is to assist the Palestinian people by putting an end to Israel’s internationally condemned policy of administrative detention.

Qaraqe added that administrative detention violates international laws and humanitarian conventions.

Kayid, a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), has been on hunger strike for 40 days in protest of being placed in administrative detention by Israel on the day he was scheduled to be released after completing a 14-year prison sentence.

Kayid is currently being treated at Israel’s Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, reportedly in serious condition after his health severely deteriorated last week.