Six Palestinian prisoners continued their open hunger strike on the second day of the Eid al-Adha holiday to protest their administrative detention. The total number of prisoners participating in solidarity has risen to 49, according to the Palestinian Prisoners of Studies Center.
The Center’s media spokesman, Riad al-Ashqar, said that 30 prisoners of the Popular Front for the Liberation in Negev, Ofer, Ramon and Gilboa prisons joined the strike to pressure the occupation into responding to their demands.
The hunger strike originally started with 19 prisoners.
Ashqar explained that Jerusalemite prisoner Hudhayfah Badr Halabiya, 33, has been on strike for 43 days. He had been an administrative detainee since June 2018 and suffers from poor health conditions having survived leukemia. He requires medical follow-up and hospitalization after severe deterioration in his health.
Islamic Jihad leader Tariq Qaadan, 46, from Arraba, Jenin, continued his open strike for 13 consecutive days. Qaadan was previously imprisoned for 15 years and had been re-arrested in February.
Meanwhile, the Commission of Detainees Affairs reported that the Israeli Prison Administration transferred detainee Sami Abu Diak from Ramlah Hospital to Assaf Haroffe Hospital in a very critical condition.
The Commission said the prisoner is one of the most serious medical cases in Israeli jails.
Abu Diak has been suffering from cancer for more than three years. Prior to that, he was victim of deliberate medical error following an intestinal surgery in the Israeli Soroka hospital in September 2015.
Abu Diak has been in jail since 2002 and was sentenced to three life sentences. He is one of 15 prisoners who are permanently housed in the Ramlah clinic. Some 700 prisoners suffer from serious medical conditions and need constant health care.
The Commission held the Israeli authorities fully responsible for the fate of Abu Diak, in light of its refusal to release him despite his medical condition.
Ashqar pointed out that Ismail Ahmed Ali, 30, from Abu Dis, has been on strike for 20 consecutive days, protesting his administrative detention. He was in Negev solitary confinement and previously spent six years in Israeli jails.
Sultan Ahmed Khalaf, 38, from Jenin, has been on hunger strike for 26 days after spending four years in Israeli jails and suffers from respiratory problems.
Leukemia patient Ahmed Abdel Karim Ghannam, 42, from Hebron, has been on hunger strike for 30 consecutive days after an administrative decision was issued against him. Two days ago, Israeli authorities transferred him to solitary confinement in Negev Prison.