Thousands of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails marked Prisoners' Day with protests on April 17, joined by supporters outside the wire.
More than 3000 detainees refused breakfast as part of a one-day hunger strike in solidarity with Samer Essawi, whose on-off fast has lasted more than 250 days and stoked weeks of street protests.
Essawi is receiving nutrients via an intravenous drip but refusing food and his lawyer says his low heart rate means that he could die at any time.
Nine prisoners from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine, of which Essawi is a member, announced an open-ended fast until he is freed.
Palestinians across the territories are attending marches as a show of solidarity with the 4713 prisoners from the West Bank, east Jerusalem and Gaza who are being held in Israeli jails, according to Israeli rights group B'Tselem.
In the West Bank, hundreds of prisoners' relatives gathered for a sit-in at Arafat Square in Ramallah and marched towards Ofer's military prison, where they tore down sections of the barbed-wire fence.
Another rally took place in Nablus, while in Gaza hundreds marched from central Gaza City to the offices of the Red Cross. A sit-in also took place at Damascus Gate in East Jerusalem.
Events to mark Prisoners' Day began on April 16 when young people in Gaza City released thousands of balloons, each bearing the name of a prisoner.
During the evening, demonstrators in a village near Hebron lit a “freedom torch” in front of the home of Arafat Jaradat, who died in Israeli custody last month after days of interrogation.
“It is intolerable for us to continue receiving our prisoners as corpses,” said Prisoners' Club spokesperson Amjad al-Najjar. There were also candle-lit ceremonies in Gaza City and Hebron.
Two Palestinian prisoners died in jail this year, raising to 207 the total number to have died in Israeli prisons since 1948.
Of the Palestinians detained, 320 are being held under administrative detention orders, whereby they are held without charge for renewable six-month periods.
[Reprinted from Morning Star.]