Palestinian prisoners have launched a growing uprising inside Israeli prisons, with the number of hunger strikers now reaching 17. Sixteen of the hunger strikers are protesting their administrative detention, Israeli imprisonment without charge or trial that can be indefinitely renewed. Palestinians routinely are jailed for years at a time without ever being accused of any action under administrative detention orders, and since the beginning of 2021, 40 Palestinian prisoners have launched hunger strikes, most in rejection of administrative detention.

There are currently approximately 540 Palestinians jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention, out of 4,850 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli jails in total. In July alone, the Israeli occupation issued 98 administrative detention orders against Palestinian prisoners.

The hunger striking detainees are:

1. Salem Zeidat, Bani Neim – Hebron, started the strike 23 days ago. Salem Zeidat is 40 years old and has been jailed without charge or trial since 22 February 2020; he is married andd the father of 5 children, held in the Negev Prison.
2. Mujahed Hamed, Silwad – Ramallah, started the strike 21 days ago. He has been detained since 22 September 2020 and married with a son, who was only one month old when he was seized from his home; he is held in the Negev prison.
3. Mohammed Munir A’mar, Tulkarem, started the strike 21 days ago. Mohammed A’mar is 26 years old and has been jailed without charge or trial since October 2020, held in the Negev prison.
4. Kayed Fasfous, Dura – Hebron, started the strike 21 days ago. He is 32 years old, detained without charge or trial since October 2020, and held in Ramon prison.
5. Mahmoud Fasfous (Kayed’s brother), started the strike 21 days ago. He is 30 years old, has been jailed without charge or trial since September 2020, and is married and the father of a child. Like his brother, he is jailed in Ramon prison.
6. Guevara Nammoura, Dura – Hebron, started the strike 20 days ago. Nammoura, 28, is a football player with Shabab Dura, who was a member of the Palestinian national football team. He is married with one child, and his wife has launched a solidarity hunger strike in support of her husband. He is jailed in Ramon prison.
7. Rafat Darawish, Doura – Hebron, started the strike 20 days ago. He is 28 years old, detained since October 2020 without charge or trial. He is married with one child and suffers from health problems; he is jailed in Ramon prison.
8. Maher Dalaysha, Ramallah, started the strike 15 days ago. Maher Dalaysheh is 46 years old, from Jalazone refugee camp near Ramallah, married and the father of five children. He launched his strike after his detention was renewed after an initial announcement of his release, with his family waiting for him. He has been jailed without charge or trial since 23 March 2021, and previously served 10 years in Israeli prison, including 5 years in administrative detention.
9. Alaa El-Din Ali, Ramallah, started the strike 14 days ago. Ali, 38, has been jailed without charge or trial since January 2021 after being subjected to harsh interrogation for 90 days. Married and the father of three children, he is jailed in the Negev prison.
10. Ahmad Abdul-Rahman Abu Sal, al-‘Arroub camp – Hebron, started 14 days ago. Ahmad Abu Sal is 26 years old and has been detained since October 2020. He is married and has a child; his brother, Mahmoud, is also jailed without charge or trial; he is held in the Negev prison.
11. Mohammad Khaled Abu Sal, al-‘Arroub camp – Hebron, started 14 days ago. Mohammed Abu Sal, 30, has been jailed without charge or trial since October 2020; he is jailed in the Negev prison.
12. Fadi al-Amour, Hebron, started 14 days ago. Al-Amour, 31, was seized by the occupation on 20 May 2021 after being released in 2020 after serving six years in Israeli prisons. His brother, Mohammed, is also jailed without charge or trial under administrative detention; he is held in the Negev prison.
13. Ahmad Nazzal, Jenin, started 14 days ago. Nazzal, 53 years old, has been detained without charge or trial since 9 January 2021. He previously served 9 years in Israeli prisons and is married and the father of seven children.
14. Miqdad al-Qawasmeh, Hebron, started 13 days ago. Miqdad Qawasmeh is a Palestinian university student, 24 years old. He has been jailed without charge or trial since January 2021 and is held in Ofer prison.
15. Yousef al-Amer, Jenin, started 6 days ago. Yousef al-Amer is 28 years old, and previously launched a hunger strke against his administrative detention. He has been jailed since June 2020 and was sentenced to one year in Israeli prison; after his sentence ended, he was transferred to administrative detention in May 2021 rather than being released.
16. Ahmad Hamamra, Beit Sahour, started the strike 4 days ago. He has been imprisoned without charge or trial since 17 August 2020.
17. Mohammad Nuwwara, Ramallah, started 10 days ago, protesting his solitary confinement. Mohammed Nuwarra has been imprisoned since 2001, serving a life sentence for his resistance to the Israeli occupation. He is being held in solitary confinement and demanding to be returned to the general population.

As the number of hunger strikers has increased, Israeli occupation forces have continued brutal attacks on the prisoners. On Tuesday, 3 August, the detainees in Ofer prison returned their meals and closed their sections in protest of the invasion of their rooms by the special repressive units, Masada, Al-Yamam and Al-Durar in the prison’s Section 16, during which 72 Palestinian prisoners were transferred to Section 18.

The detainees refused to go out for recreation, to use the canteen or showers. During the attack on Ofer’s section 16, 8 Palestinian child prisoners held there were assaulted after they were transferred from Megiddo prison. There are 900 Palestinian prisoners held in Ofer, including a number of administrative detainees and child prisoners.

Meanwhile, Israeli occupation jailers assaulted hunger-striking detainees in the Negev Prison and stormed Section 10 of the Eshel Detention Center.

A number of the hunger strikers have been thrown into isolation. Kayed al-Fasfous is being held in Nitzan Ramle prison in isolation, while Mahmoud al-Fasfous is currently isolated in the Ramle prison clinic after his health deteriorated.

Samidoun Palestinian Prisoner Solidarity Network urges all supporters of Palestine to take action to support these 17 Palestinian hunger strikers and all Palestinian prisoners struggling for freedom, for their own lives and for the Palestinian people. They are confronting the system of Israeli oppression on the front lines, with their bodies and their lives, to bring the system of administrative detention to an end. Take these actions below to stand with the hunger strikers and the struggle for liberation of Palestine, from the river to the sea!