Nafha prisoners: We will start second stage of our strike

RAMALLAH, (PIC)– Palestinian prisoners who are on hunger strike in the Israeli Nafha jail said in a message that they would start on Monday the second stage of their hunger strike.

They said in a message on Sunday that after 20 days of “legendary steadfastness” they decided to start the second stage of their hunger strike, which, they said, would contain a lot of surprises for the “Zionist enemy”.

They said, “We started our battle of empty stomachs on 17 April to let the world know of our tragedy and to demand our humanitarian rights”.

The prisoners said that the Israeli responses to the strike did not meet the minimum of their demands, affirming that they would proceed in their battle till those demands were met.

For its part, the Palestinian ministry of planning and foreign affairs in Gaza charged the Israeli occupation authority (IOA) with exercising the most “brutal forms of repression” against the Palestinian prisoners.

The ministry said in a statement on Sunday that the IOA practices are in violation of the international law and international agreements.

It said that the IOA was banning lawyers from visiting hunger strikers, quelling more and more of them in isolation cells, and cracking down on the solidarity rallies in addition to spreading rumors and waging psychological warfare against them.

Pointing out that more than 3000 Palestinian prisoners were on hunger strike, the ministry asked the Arab League, the world community, and human rights groups to seriously act to stop the IOA violent quelling measures and to provide a dignified life for those prisoners and to seek their release the soonest.