Palestinians under Israeli 'administrative detention' announce mass hunger strike

Palestinian administrative detainees will launch a mass hunger strike on 18 June, a special detainees' committee announced on Monday in a press release shared by the Palestinian Prisoners' Club.

Palestinian prisoners under Israeli "administrative detention" had previously announced on Sunday the formation of a special committee to prepare for "a new confrontation" with Israeli authorities, the Prisoners' Club said.

The committee was formed out of the unitary, multi-factional leadership body of the Palestinian prisoners' movement in response to the rising rate of "administrative detention" orders implemented by Israel in recent months.

1200 administrative detention orders have been issued by Israeli occupation against Palestinians since the start of in 2023. pic.twitter.com/NCwjD7gdRy

— Kuffiya (@Kuffiyateam) May 30, 2023

Administrative detention is an Israeli martial law system that allows Israeli forces to detain any Palestinian in the occupied West Bank without charges for six months, renewable indefinitely.

"Currently, there are some 1,014 Palestinian detainees in the occupation jails, which is a number unseen since 2003, during the second Intifada," Ayah Shreiteh, spokesperson for the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, told The New Arab."These include 14 children and three women". 

"Since the beginning of the year, the occupation forces have issued 1,200 administrative detention orders, including renewal orders for detainees about to be released," she elaborated. "The newly-formed committee has the mission of following up all the new cases of administrative detention and preparing for collective protest actions to demand the halt of this detention policy."

Rejecting their administrative detention:

• Prisoner "Ahmed Al-Masalmeh" continues his open-ended hunger strike for the "5th" day in a row.

• Prisoner "Kayed Al-Fasfous" continues his open-ended hunger strike for the "4" day in a row.

#FreeThemAll #معركة_الأمعاء_الخاوية pic.twitter.com/5W7fuKOy8h

— Lahlou Anas 🇲🇦 🇵🇸 #الحرية_لوليد_دقة (@lahlouanas_M) June 3, 2023

"The committee will be running the strike on behalf of the prisoners' movement, and it includes representatives of all political affiliations in prison," she added.

Palestinian administrative detainees went on a collective hunger strike demanding an end to Israel's administrative detention policy in October of last year, with dozens of detainees participating in the protest.

A source at the Addameer Prisoner Support Association told TNA at the time that prisoners were "protesting the administrative detention as a whole, and at the very least, they seek to stop the use of administrative detention on a large scale as a tool to imprison any Palestinian without reason".

⭕ Today, Zionist court authorities renewed the administrative detention for the second time, for the university student, Hassan Abu Al-Rub from Jenin.

Hassan has been detained illegally since February 8, 2023. He is the younger brother of the martyr Mustafa Abu Al-Rub. pic.twitter.com/I5zgLreYH6

— Palestine Captives 𓂆 (@Palestinecapti1) June 4, 2023

In 2022, Israeli forces issued more than 1500 administrative detention orders, making it one of the highest yearly rates of administrative detention orders in years.

"I expected that there would be a coming hunger strike because nothing changed since the last strike, but the news still shocked me," Guevara Taha, the 19-year-old daughter of Palestinian administrative detainee, Thaer Taha, told TNA. "I feel tied up, and don't know how to continue my classes today."

“The occupation has gone to extremes against our people, especially prisoners and thus I swore to God I would fight the policy of administrative detention to which I and hundreds of my fellow prisoners fell prey.”– Martyr Sheikh Khader during his hunger strike in 2012. pic.twitter.com/m1KvKROsiZ

— Palestine Captives 𓂆 (@Palestinecapti1) June 1, 2023

"My father was arrested on a six-month detention order, without charges, and then the occupation renewed his detention order for another six months shortly before his release. Then in April, after a year in prison, they renewed his detention for another six months again," she said.

“My father has spent 13 years in prison, eight of which were administrative detentions, without charges," Taha continued. "I grew up barely knowing my father. In constant anguish if he will be released, if he will be arrested after his release, or worried for him because he is on strike."

"The last hunger strike was a protest action to raise awareness about administrative detentions, and it lasted 19 days, but this time it might last longer, which is why we as families are very worried," she added.

Last year, hundreds of Palestinian administrative detainees boycotted Israeli court sessions for ten months, in protest against the administrative detention system.

Since 2011, some 400 Palestinian detainees have performed individual hunger strikes, severely damaging their health and demanding their release. The longest-running strike was that of Palestinian detainee Khalil Awawdeh, which lasted 170 days.

Last month, Palestinian detainee and leader, Khader Adnan, died in an Israeli prison after 86 days of a hunger strike protesting his administrative detention for the 6th time since 2012.