Palestinian children hold rally to support prisoners in Israeli jails

Children of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails have held a candle-light demonstration in Gaza City, asking the Tel Aviv regime to free their loved ones.

The children marched on the Red Cross headquarters in Gaza, holding photos of Samer Isawi and Ayman Sharawna, who have been leading months-long hunger strike by Palestinians in Israeli prisons.

The Hamas Ministry of Detainees’ Affairs says more than 4,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails, a majority of them without trial or charges.

Independent rights groups say Israelis frequently put Palestinian detainees in solitary confinement, allowing very few family visits, and often forcing them to go through regular strip searches.

Earlier this week, the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) called on the international community to push Israel to release six Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli jails.

“International human rights group should move to end the suffering of those prisoners who have been on hunger strike for months,” member of the PLO executive committee Tayssir Khaled said in a press conference on December 24.

According to an April 1, 2012 report published by the non-governmental Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, at least 4,610 “political” Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli jails.

Independent sources, however, put the number of Palestinian inmates in Israeli jails at 11,000.