6,300 Palestinian and Arab prisoners begin hunger strike

Around 6,300 Palestinian and Arab prisoners in Israeli occupation jails went on hunger strike on Sunday as a warning protest step against the repressive practices by the prisons’ administrations. The ministry of Prisoners Affairs in Palestine said in a statement that Palestinian prisoners in all Israeli jails were the target of an unprecedented terrorizing campaign of repression, isolation, and transfer from one prison to another over the past few weeks. The campaign peaked with the beating of the oldest serving prisoner Nael al-Barghouthi, which prisoners condemned as a violation of all red lines, along with the isolation of many prisoners serving high sentences, the ministry added. Even the women prisoners were not spared as Ahlam Al-Tamimi was isolated for writing the names of all women prisoners on a piece of paper during a visit by her lawyer, according to the statement. The prisoners decided to go on the single day hunger strike as a warning that could later escalate into other forms such as refraining from daily count and daily stroll outside their cells and closing their wards before the administration and others. Meanwhile, Palestinians held in the Israeli Ashkelon prison began Friday a warning hunger strike scheduled to end 4 July to protest the continued searches carried out by the Nahshon special prison unit.