Gazans rally for release of prisoners in Israel

By Mohammed Majid

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Scores of Palestinians staged a rally in Gaza City on Monday to show solidarity with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Gathering outside the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross, protesters waved banners demanding international pressure on Israel to release their detained loved ones.

"We gathered here to show solidarity with Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons," Nisreen Jaber, the sister of the detainee Mahmoud Jaber, told Anadolu Agency.

She said prisoners have been living in difficult conditions in Israeli detention centers and they suffer from lack of clothing and winter blankets.

Jaber called on human rights organizations to exert pressure on Israel to allow families of Palestinian detainees to visit their sons languishing in Israeli jails.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoners Club said Israel's Prison Service had confiscated more than 2,000 research papers and textbooks for Palestinian detainees in Hadarim prison in northern Israel.

"This is an attempt to [prevent detainees] from studying and obtaining university degrees,” the non-governmental foundation said in a statement.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs, more than 6,500 Palestinians -- including some 350 from the blockaded Gaza Strip -- continue to languish in detention facilities throughout Israel.