Captive Movement: Open-ended hunger strike begins next week

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The Supreme National Emergency Committee of the National Captive Movement issued a statement calling for a strike next Monday and Wednesday and urging prisoners to refrain from undergoing security checks.

In a statement, the Committee pointed out that this decision came after the Israeli occupation violated the agreements reached last March and continued to arbitrarily transfer prisoners from their prisons every six months.

The Committee also indicated that the Israeli occupation's purpose is to make prisoners lose their stability and harmony with their surrounding that was imposed on them after spending long years in captivity, knowing that most of the prisoners are close to their 20th year behind bars.

The statement underlined that starting next week, the prisoners will engage in an open-ended hunger strike with the participation of all factions for two weeks.

The statement mentioned that the campaign begins with a strike next Monday and Wednesday, calling on prisoners to refrain from undergoing security checks as an initial move and the last warning to the Israeli Prisons Authority to stop its attacks against prisoners and retract its decisions.

A few days ago, Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons decided to activate the Higher Prisoners' Emergency Committee in preparation for the resumption of their collective steps, early next month.

This comes as hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh said yesterday that he will continue his hunger strike until the most comprehensive, final decision is taken, which is his release.

Awawdeh's words came after the Israeli occupation Supreme Court issued an urgent decision to suspend the prisoner's administrative detention, a step that all factions saw as a devious maneuver by the occupation to have Awawdeh end his strike. 

فيديو للأسير #خليل_عواودة المضرب عن الطعام منذ ١٧٠ يوماً، بعد تجميد اعتقاله الإداري.#فلسطين pic.twitter.com/4YapnLlEwm

— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) August 19, 2022

Earlier this month, the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies pointed out that the number of longest-serving prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons rose to 261, with new prisoners entering their 21st consecutive year in captivity, the last of whom was Mahmoud Ali Al-Radaydah, from Beit Lahm, who was sentenced to life imprisonment. 

The director of the center, Riyad Al-Ashqar, expected that the number of longest-serving prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons would reach more than 300 by the end of the year as a result of the occupation high-sentencing dozens of prisoners, with nearly 20 years passing on their detention.

Last June, Al-Ashqar warned that dozens of prisoners may die inside prisons if they are not released or provided with the necessary medical care.

Read more: Long-serving Palestinian prisoners: 84 Eids away from their loved ones