Solidarity campaigns with Palestinian prisoners in Israeli captivity held in Gaza

In a bid to express their solidarity with prisoners in Israeli jails, tens of Palestinians in the besieged coastal enclave released hundreds of pigeons into the sky on Monday.

The event was organised by the Palestinian Homing Pigeon Sports Federation (PHPSF), with the Fatah Martyrs, Prisoners and Wounded Commission, in front of the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza.

"We released about 500 carrier pigeons in the sky of Gaza City, in a symbolic event in solidarity with the prisoners," Ahmed al-Najmi, an official at (PHPSF), spoke to The New Arab.

"Pigeons are characterised by its constant nostalgia for their homeland as well as our prisoners who are looking forward to returning to their normal lives once again when they will be released," he said.

Because of what he described as "illegal" procedures imposed by Israel on prisoners, "they are suffering from dire conditions inside the prisons, mainly the patients who barely can receive their suitable treatment."

He called on international and human rights organisations to "oblige Israel to implement international agreements that stipulate [prisoners] rights."

"Official Palestinian institutions have to provide more support for the prisoners," al-Najmi also stressed.

According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, a non-government organisation, there are at least 4,900 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, 1,000 of whom are serving "administrative detention" without being charged or facing trial.

Focusing on the prisoners' suffering, the Prisoners' Movement in the Israeli prisons, in partnership with a large number of prisoners’ institutions, unions and institutions in Gaza, organised an art exhibition as part of the activities of commemorating the Palestinian Prisoners' Day.

Under the name of "We Breathe Freedom," the six-day exhibition began on Monday and displayed dozens of artworks and paintings that focus on the prisoner’s conditions in Israeli prisons.

"The exhibition displays artistic, heritage and exclusive scenes from inside prisons of the life of prisoners," Yousri Darwish, one of the event's organizers, said to TNA.

"Such an event seeks to document the harsh life of the prisoners in the Israeli jails, where the Israeli forces deliberately violate their human rights," Darwish added.

He called on the international community to support the prisoners' cause and pressure Israel to release them as soon as possible.