Summary of the 37th day of the Freedom and Dignity Strike

The Media Committee of the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ society, present the summary of the 37th day of the collective hunger strike, which was embarked by the prisoners’ movement in the Israeli jails, under the title of “Freedom and Dignity strike” since 17th April, 2017.

Detainees carry on the battle of freedom and dignity in the Israeli jails, in request for their basic demands which are denied by the prisons’ administration, and which was achieved previously through embarking many hunger strikes. The most prominent demands include: ending the policy of administrative detention, ending the policy of solitary confinement, ending the policy of banning families’ and lawyers’ visits, ending the policy of medical negligence and other legitimate demands.

In a visit to the striking detainee Kareem Younis, he said: “we are going to escalate our struggle during the coming days and stop drinking water and salt. The prison administration tried during several meetings to convince us to end the strike in order to discuss our demands, but we refused. Our bodies are barely able to carry us, but we are determined to continue until victory is achieved, and this requires an escalation from our people.”

In a visit to the striking detainee Issam Al-Froukh at Nitzan Ramlah prison, he affirmed that “the prison administration had told the lawyers who asked his visit that he was in another prison, even though he was there. There is a daily transfer from Nitzan prison to hospitals.

We cannot say that health condition of detainees is good, but their morale is so high and they are prepared to continue the strike until the last moment.

In a visit to the striking detainee Amjad Abu Latifa at Eshil isolation, he said that most of the detainees suffer from weight loss and low blood pressure, and many of them had skin diseases due to the lack of vitamins as well as fainting and tightening of the muscles. He added that the prison administration has turned one of its sections into a field hospital, where detainees are humiliated and treated in a barbaric way.

The activities supporting the strike continue, where the National Committee of supporting the strike called our people to be at the sit-in strike tents in all cities on Wednesday at 11:00 am, and participate in the march on 8:00pm.

Source: PNN