PA Launches International Campaign Against Israeli Administrative Detention

A Palestinian prisoner at Nitzan jail (File photo: Reuters)
A Palestinian prisoner at Nitzan jail (File photo: Reuters)
TT

PA Launches International Campaign Against Israeli Administrative Detention

A Palestinian prisoner at Nitzan jail (File photo: Reuters)
A Palestinian prisoner at Nitzan jail (File photo: Reuters)

The Palestinian Authority (PA) launched an international campaign to end the Israeli administrative detention against Palestinians.

Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki, who left for the US to participate in the 76th session of the United Nations General Assembly, will bring the issue of prisoners during his meetings with international organizations in Washington.

The foreign ministry issued a statement saying that the Minister will present the Palestinian stance, and report the suffering of the Palestinian people, the crimes of the occupation and its settlers, and systematic and widespread violations against Jerusalem and the prisoners.

Meanwhile, six Palestinians in Israeli prisons have declared an open-ended hunger strike to protest administrative detention.

The media consultant of the Commission of the Detainees' Affairs, Hasan Abed-Rabbo, reported that six detainees, held by Israel under arbitrary administrative detention orders without charges or trial, are on a hunger strike despite serious complications.

Abed-Rabbo stated that the detainees are suffering from a sharp pain, severe weight loss, fatigue, serious mineral deficiency, salt deficiency, and other complications.

The hunger-striking detainees are Kayed al-Fasfous, who started the strike 66 days ago, Miqdad al-Qawasma, who started 59 days ago, Ala al-Araj 41 days ago, Hisham Abu Hawwash 33 days ago, Rayeq Bisharat 28 days ago, and Shadi Abu Aker 25 days ago.

Israel refuses to respond to the prisoners' demands to end their administrative detention, exacerbating their health condition.

The administrative law is based on the British Emergency Law of 1945, which Israel used to arrest Palestinians and imprison them without trials for various periods automatically renewed.

The administrative imprisonment relies on a file that the Israeli security services claim is confidential.

There are about 540 administrative detainees in Israeli prisons out of about 5,000 prisoners. The number of administrative detention rulings since 1967 is estimated at more than 54,000, between new decisions and renewals of administrative detention.

The Palestinian Society Prisoners Club said that, since the beginning of this year, the administrative detainees have carried out hunger strikes to confront the policy of administrative detention.

It renewed its call for the need to stop going to the military courts of the occupation.



UNRWA: Israel is Using Advanced Weaponry in Jenin Operation

A group of Palestinians (rear) waits to leave from a hospital on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
A group of Palestinians (rear) waits to leave from a hospital on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
TT

UNRWA: Israel is Using Advanced Weaponry in Jenin Operation

A group of Palestinians (rear) waits to leave from a hospital on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH
A group of Palestinians (rear) waits to leave from a hospital on the second day of an Israeli military operation in the West Bank city of Jenin, 22 January 2025. EPA/ALAA BADARNEH

Director of UNRWA Affairs in the West Bank Roland Friedrich said Wednesday that Israel is “using advanced weaponry and warfare methods including airstrikes” in its “massive operation” in the flashpoint West Bank town of Jenin.

On Tuesday, Israeli forces launched an operation in Jenin which Palestinian officials said killed 10 people, just days after a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas took effect in the Gaza Strip.

Friedrich said Jenin Camp is “nearly uninhabitable, with some 2,000 families displaced since mid-December.”

“UNRWA has been unable to provide full services to the camp in this time,” he said on X.

“The operation comes merely a week before implementation of Israeli legislation that severely undermines UNRWA’s operations in the West Bank, including coordination of humanitarian access,” he said.

“It also threatens to undermine the fragile ceasefire reached just days ago in Gaza,” Friedrich added.