Ramallah, July 14 (RHC)-- Three Palestinian prisoners in an Israeli prison are still on a hunger strike they declared a few weeks ago in protest against the administrative detention, a form of imprisonment in which the individual is never tried and can be held indefinitely in Israeli detention.

The Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs announced the news in a statement carried by Palestine’s official Wafa news agency.  According to the statement, Odi Shehadeh, 24, from the Deheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, and Fadi Ghneimat, 40, from the town of Surif, in southern occupied West Bank, have been on hunger strike for 20 and 19 days in a row, respectively, at Ofer prison near Ramallah, the seat of the Palestinian Authority (PA).

The third prisoner, identified as Mahmoud Saadi, from the Jenin refugee camp in northern West Bank, has been on hunger strike for the past 12 days and is currently behind bars in Hadarim prison, located west of the city of Tulkarm.

The Israeli regime subjected 76 Palestinians to an illegal practice known as “administrative detention” last month.  More than 350 detainees are under administrative detention, in which Israel keeps the detainees for up to six months, a period, which can be extended an infinite number of times.

Women and minors are also among these detainees.  Such detentions take place on the orders from a military commander and on the basis of what the regime describes as ‘secret’ evidence.

A number of Israeli jailers and even Palestinian prisoners have tested positive for the virus.
Some prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to 11 years without any charge against them.

According to Wafa, Palestinians in administrative detention resort to hunger strike to force the Israeli authorities to release them.