30 Palestinian administrative captives start open hunger strike

Hassan Abed Rabbo, a spokesman for the Commission, told WAFA that the captives decided to go on hunger strike as a protest against the policy of administrative detention in which the prisoners are held in prison for renewable periods without charges or trial.

The administrative captives sent a message a few days ago in which they asserted that confronting the administrative detention continues and that the practices of the Israel Prison Services “are no longer governed by the security obsession as an actual driver of the occupation, but rather are acts of revenge due to their past.”

Israel has escalated its administrative detention policy against Palestinians as the number of administrative captives currently exceeded 760, including minors, women, elderly. According to the Commission, 80 percent of the administrative detainees are former prisoners who spent years in the prisons most were administrative detentions.

Israel’s widely condemned policy of administrative detention allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals usually ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.

Amnesty International, has described Israel's administrative detention policy as a “cruel, unjust practice which helps maintain Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians.”