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The Handala Center for Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners announced in a statement on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached between the prisoners of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Israeli Prison Service.

According to the Handala Center's statement, the agreement provides for the suspension of the open-ended hunger strike, which the Popular Front organizations waged in prisons after the Israeli Prison Service terminated the penalties imposed against the Secretary-General of the Popular Front, Ahmed Saadat, and his two companions, Ahed Abu Gholami and Walid Hanatshe, and to return them to prison. 

The Popular Front prisoners had started a hunger strike a few days ago, in support of cancer-stricken prisoner Walid Daqqa and other sick prisoners, and to confront the targeting of the Front's leaders in captivity, 

In a statement, the Front stated that it had "taken a decision to escalate in all the Israeli occupation prisons in the context of confronting the jailer's retaliatory measures against the leader Ahmed Saadat and the leadership of the Popular Front in prisons."

Read next: Vigil in Gaza in support of prisoner Walid Daqqa, other ill prisoners

The strike came after the Israeli occupation authorities returned sick prisoner Walid Daqqa to the Ramallah prison clinic, days after he was transferred to Assaf Harofeh Hospital due to his deteriorating health condition, according to the Ministry of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners. According to a statement issued by the family and the campaign for his release, occupation authorities postponed the special court session for the immediate release of the prisoner.

The Ministry of Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners said that the statements made by Israeli Police Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir about the case of Daqqa underline that the occupation intends to kill the prisoner, and reflect the atrocities committed by the Israeli occupation through medical neglect against prisoner Daqqa and hundreds of other sick prisoners.

Ben-Gvir and his fascist government are leading an unprecedented brutal campaign against Palestinian prisoners, and they are carrying out the death penalty through systematic policies and practical measures aimed at getting the prisoners sick and then letting them die slowly, the ministry underlined.

Who is Walid Daqqa?

Walid Daqqa has been detained since 1986 and was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of resisting the occupation. His sentence was later decreased to 37 years.

In 2018, two years were added to his sentence, and a few years ago, his wife, Sanaa Salameh, was able to give birth to their daughter, Milad, after smuggling Daqqa's sperm from prison. Daqqa is considered one of the most prominent writers and thinkers of the Palestinian Captive Movement.

Until the end of last April, the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons reached nearly 4,900, including 32 female prisoners and 170 minors. As for sick prisoners, they numbered 700 who were suffering from several diseases, including 24 prisoners with cancer and tumors of varying degrees.