EU voices 'great concern' for Palestinian hunger strikers

European Union foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton expressed "great concern" Friday over the fate of three Palestinians on hunger strike in Israeli detention after the ICRC warned they risked death. A statement from her office said Ashton "requests the government of Israel to do all it can to preserve the health" of the three, Samer Barq, Hassan Safadi and Ayman Sharawneh. They have been on hunger strike for weeks to demand their release from administrative detention without trial. Ashton also reiterated "the EU's longstanding concern about the extensive use by Israel of administrative detention orders." Earlier in Geneva, the International Committee of the Red cross (ICRC) warned of their deteriorating health. "These people are going to die unless the detaining authorities find a prompt solution," said the head of the ICRC delegation in Israel and the occupied territories, Juan Pedro Schaerer, warned in a statement.