Islamic Jihad 'ready' for Israeli escalation while Palestinian prisoners on hunger strike

The Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) movement on Thursday said it is "ready" for confrontation with Israel while hundreds of Palestinian prisoners refuse food to protest conditions in Israeli jails.

The Al-Quds Brigades, the movement's military wing, said in a press statement received by The New Arab that it has mobilised its fighters and is ready for clashes with Israel. 

"We received the statement of the Secretary-General, Commander Ziad al-Nakhala, about what our heroic prisoners are being subjected to in the prisons of the enemy with high responsibility," the Al-Quds brigades said in its statement. 

"We announce the general mobilisation in the ranks of our fighters, and we are fully prepared, and we are at the ready for any possible fighting with Israel." 

Al-Nakhala warned on Wednesday of the possibility of a war erupting due to "the occupation practices against the Palestinian prisoners in Zionist prisons."

Al-Nakhala's remarks came after the Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC) rights group announced that 250 PIJ-affiliated detainees in Israeli prisons began an open hunger strike to protest the harsh measures against them.

Since the Gilboa prison break in early September, when six Palestinian prisoners escaped from a high-security jail, Israeli authorities have carried out a crackdown within jails, separating and transferring hundreds of inmates.