Gazans rally to support hunger-striking prisoners

By Mohamed Majed

GAZA CITY, Palestine (AA) – Scores of Palestinians staged a rally on Monday outside the office of the International Committee of the Red Cross in the Gaza Strip in support of hunger-striking prisoners in Israeli jails.

“We came today to show solidarity with our imprisoned sons in Israeli jails,” Neama Haddad, the mother of one of the prisoners, told Anadolu Agency.

“The prisoners are suffering from racist practices against them by prison authorities,” she added.

Protesters carried pictures of prisoners with banners calling for international pressures to release the detainees.

“We appeal to international organizations to act to free detainees from Israeli prisons,” Haddad said.

Around 1,500 Palestinian prisoners are on the 22nd day of a mass hunger strike for better conditions in Israeli prisons, led by senior Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti.

The strike has also prompted protests in wider Palestinian society and the organizing committee behind the strike has called for a series of protests in the coming week, including clearing all shops of Israeli goods on Wednesday as an act of boycott and a general strike the following day.

On Sunday, a group of Israeli doctors called on colleagues both in Israel and internationally to reject plans to force-feed hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners.