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300 Hamas prisoners stage hunger strike in Israeli jails

Xinhua, August 5, 2016 Adjust font size:

Nearly 300 Hamas prisoners declared a hunger strike on Thursday after the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) cracked down on two prisons where they were held, the IPS said Thursday.

The prisoners were moved and reshuffled from two wings at the Nafah prison and the Eshel prison, both located in southern Israel, due to possible illicit communications between prisoners, IPS spokesperson Assaf Libarati said.

IPS guards will continue to scan the prisons and interrogate suspects in the upcoming week to determine the nature of these communications, which are done through mobile phones and carriers, Palestinian media reports.

Tensions started to arise around the Nafah prison by the end of 2015, when guards uncovered a network for smuggling mobile phones into the penitentiary, reported Times of Israel website citing a senior IPS official.

Guards then used stricter measures and started separating prisoners in order to disrupt the smuggling, the official was cited as saying.

There are more than 5,000 Palestinian prisoners jailed in Israel over security charges. About 1,700 of them are thought to be members of Hamas.

Many Palestinians view the Palestinian prisoners as freedom fighters combating the Israeli occupation.

Israel occupied the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip territories, where Palestinians wish to establish a state, in the 1967 Mideast War.

Israel's government passed a controversial measure last year enabling the forced feeding of hunger strikes at risk of death, fearing a death of a Palestinian prisoner would spark unrest and deteriorate the already-tense situation between Israelis and Palestinians. Endit