Health of Palestinian hunger strikers worsens: Official

The health conditions of hunger striking Palestinians in Israeli prisons have gravely deteriorated as they continue their strike for the 25th consecutive day.

Essa Qaraqie, the Palestinian minister of prisoners’ affairs, said on Sunday that the physical conditions of the hunger striking prisoners “worsen every day.”

Some 120 Palestinian prisoners have been on hunger strike since April 24 in protest at the Israeli “administrative detention.”

In a letter posted on Facebook, the inmates have stated that they would not give up their hunger strike campaign despite extreme weakness.

Administrative detention is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to imprison Palestinians for up to six months. The detention order can, however, be renewed for an indefinite period of time.

Qaraqie also said some of the strikers “have already been transferred to hospitals.” He added that Israeli prisons still neglect the demands of the inmates despite their worsening conditions.

According to Israeli B’Tselem rights group, prison officials took harsh measures against the Palestinian strikers and put some of them in solitary confinement.

Qaraqie also said that Palestinians have sent letters to the UN and the international Human Rights Council asking them to intervene and help end Israel’s administrative detentions.

More than 5,000 Palestinians are reportedly being held in Israeli prisons, nearly 200 of them under administrative detention orders.