Two Palestinians held in Israeli prisons are on an open-ended hunger strike to protest the harsh jail conditions and the inhumane behavior toward them. The Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) said Khalil Abu Aram, one of the duo, was held at a prison in the city of Ashkelon, the Palestinian Information Center
on Monday. Israeli authorities have deliberately procrastinated in allowing Abu Aram to meet his son Ahmad, who has been in administrative detention since September 2019 in Negev Prison. Abu Aram, in jail since 2002 and serving a life sentence, has not seen his son for several years. Separately, the Palestinian Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Commission Maher al-Akhras had been on hunger strike for eight days in protest at his arbitrary detention. Akhras was reportedly kidnapped by Israeli troops last month from his home in the occupied West Bank city of Jenin.An Israeli military court extended his detention on July 30 for another six days under the pretext of giving Israel’s domestic spy service Shin Bet more time to interrogate him. On Sunday, dozens of Palestinian citizens participated in a solidarity sit-in outside Akhras’ home, denouncing Israel’s arbitrary detention policy.
Palestinians hold Israeli authorities fully responsible for any deterioration of the circumstances in jails. The prisoners have also been subjected to degrading treatment and have repeatedly been assaulted over the past few months. More than 7,000 Palestinians are reportedly held at Israeli jails.
Hundreds of the inmates have apparently been incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention, a policy under which Palestinian prisoners are kept in Israeli detention facilities without trial or charge.
Some Palestinian prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to 11 years. In May 2019, a study revealed that Israel had arrested some 16,500 Palestinian children since the outbreak of the Second Intifada (uprising) in late-2000