Palestinians rally for release of prisoners in Israel

By Nour Abu Eisha

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) - Scores of Palestinians staged a rally in Gaza City on Monday in support of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

The protesters, who gathered outside the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross, waved banners calling for international pressure on Israel to free their relatives held in Israeli prisons.

“Prisoners are suffering in Israeli jails,” Yasser Borais, a former prisoner, told protesters.

Borais, who spent 13 years in Israeli jails, said the Israeli prison authority has tightened the noose around the prisoners and “deprived them of their basic rights”.

“The prisoners have appealed to Palestinian factions to seriously work to get them freed,” he said.

According to the Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners' Affairs, more than 6,500 Palestinians, 350 of whom are from the Gaza Strip, are currently under custody at detention facilities throughout Israel.