300 Palestinian captives join mass hunger strike

More than 300 Palestinians are currently participating in an open hunger strike in Israeli prisons, Maan quoted the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) as saying on Thursday.

PPS said that 285 Hamas-affiliated captives held at the Eshel and Nafha prisons entered an open hunger strike on Thursday to protest suppressive measures by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), while some 40 prisoners from the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) were striking in support of fellow prisoner Bilal Kayid.

Kayid enters his 51st day of hunger strike on Thursday in protest of being sentenced to administrative detention -- internment without trial or charges -- on the day when he was meant to be released from prison after serving a 14-and-a-half year sentence.

Kayid is one of six Palestinian captives currently on hunger strike to protest their administrative detention. These hunger strikers included brothers Mahmoud and Muhammad al-Balboul, who began their hunger strikes on July 4 and 7 respectively; Malik al-Qadi; and Ayyad Hreimi, who both began their strikes on July 15.

Meanwhile, prominent imprisoned Palestinian journalist Omar Nazzal began his own open hunger strike on Thursday.