The Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement has announced a mass hunger strike by its inmates in Israeli jails, rejecting sanctions imposed on six Palestinians after they escaped from Gulboh prison last month.
Al Jazeera reports that Palestinian prisoners have been divided into cells according to their political affiliation.
Most of the prisoners belonging to Islamic Jihad number about 400, while the strike has been supported by all other factions.
According to a statement from the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, the hunger strike was part of a "recently announced resistance program by the National Emergency Committee for Prisoners, which basically rejects rebellion and prison administration laws."
The statement said the Islamic Jihad prisoners sent a letter to the Israeli prison administration on Tuesday outlining their demands and informing them of their decision to go on a hunger strike.
There are about 4,600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including 35 women and 200 children.
Last month, six Palestinian prisoners dug a tunnel and escaped from Israel's safest and most secure prison.
However, he was arrested in mid-September, but the prison service confirmed in a statement that the group of fugitives included Zakaria Zubeidi, a prominent former leader of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade and the late Palestinian leader and former president Yasser Arafat. His victory was part of a political movement.
Among those arrested were 35-year-old Eham Kamamji and 26-year-old Munadal Infayat, who belong to the Islamic Jihad movement.
Islamic Jihad praised its "heroes" in response to the recapture and vowed that the Palestinian people would not bow to Israeli atrocities and aggression and would continue to resist.
