RAMALLAH – Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons are once again winning a new victory over the Israeli jailer's procedures and restrictions, as Israeli intelligence and the IPS administration responded to their demands before embarking on an open-ended hunger strike on the first of Ramadan.

In a brief joint statement, the Prisoners' Affairs Commission (governmental) and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club (non-governmental) announced on Wednesday that the prisoners had suspended the strike step "after the cessation of punitive and arbitrary measures" against them.

In a statement declaring victory in the "Battle of the Volcano of Freedom or Martyrdom," distributed by the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, the prisoners' supreme national emergency committee said that the prisoners had written "a new page of glory and pride" and that "the prisoner movement was able to record a new victory in the pages of glory and steadfastness."

The committee said only that the prisoners forced "the Zionist enemy to stop its measures against us, which it sought to impose on us," without giving further details on the terms of the agreement and guarantees of its implementation.

On 14 February, the prisoners began a rebellion against the procedures and instructions of the Israeli prison administration, in preparation for an open-ended hunger strike aimed at discouraging prison authorities from measures that target their lives and conditions of detention.

The head of the Prisoners' Affairs Commission Qadri Abu Bakr, speaking to Al Jazeera Net, welcomed the suspension of prisoners for their strike, and said that it came "after long and arduous negotiations with the prison administration, the last of which was a negotiating session that lasted more than 3 hours, in which the prison administration and the Ministry of National Security and Intelligence participated."

Abu Bakr pointed to "guarantees, contrary to previous promises," noting that the guarantee of implementation of the achievement is not the promises of the occupation, "but in the solidity and unity of the captive movement."

Abu Bakr expected the details of the agreement to be announced soon, but he mentioned among the prisoners' demands to stop the policies imposed by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir since he took office at the end of 2022, including "compulsory transportation, reducing the quota of purchases from the cantina (prison shop), confiscating their belongings, especially with regard to food preparation needs, restricting family visits, and others."

Response under pressure

Amjad al-Najjar, spokesman for the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, said the prisoners avoided details in their battle, and their disobedience and strike were titled "restoring the situation to what it was before Ben Gvir's measures, which began to be implemented earlier this year."

Speaking to Al Jazeera Net, Al-Najjar said that the most prominent measures taken after Ben Gvir took over, namely: determining the duration of bathing for each prisoner and placing bathrooms outside the prisoners' rooms, providing old and bad bread to them, isolating prisoners solitary for the simplest reasons, punishing some prisoners by depriving them of visiting their families, punishing some prisoners by not buying from the cantina for several months.

Al-Najjar: Ben Gvir responded to the prisoners under pressure (Al Jazeera Net)

He responded forcefully

Al-Najjar added that these and other punishments are small for any person outside prison, but they are very important for prisoners, pointing out that there is no accurate information on the details of the agreement regarding draft laws in the Knesset related to the implementation of death sentences for those convicted of killings, preventing treatment, confiscating property and identity, and others.

Despite Ben Gvir's announcement in a tweet that the suspension of his measures is temporary, Najjar said that Ben Gvir "responded to the prisoners under duress and under pressure," explaining that the suspension of the strike "is an Israeli interest, because if it continues and thousands of prisoners enter it, the West Bank will explode in the holy month of Ramadan, the flashpoints will increase and the burden of the Israeli security establishment will increase."

He added that the occupation does not want to watch the security situation in Nablus and Jenin spread to the rest of the West Bank, because the prisoners constitute the ignition fuel for any confrontation, and concluded that responding to the prisoners' demands constitutes "a victory of their will in front of the repression units allocated to prisons and the Netanyahu government and his extremist ministers."

Previous strikes

Wednesday's victory was not the first in the history of the Palestinian prisoner movement, but was preceded by 26 successful mass strikes since 1967, according to a joint statement by the Prisoners' Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club, Wednesday, obtained by Al Jazeera Net.

The objectives of the strikes focused on improving the detention environment and recognizing the basic rights of prisoners, including allowing visits, the introduction of radio and television, and the entry of food, clothing and cooking utensils.

In addition to university strikes, hundreds of prisoners have gone on individual strikes since 2008, most recently Khader Adnan, who has gone on several strikes and continues his last strike since his arrest on February 5.

According to the latest statistics contained in a joint statement by the institutions concerned with prisoners' affairs at the end of last February, the number of prisoners in Israeli prisons is about 4800,170, including 29 children and <> female prisoners.

The following are the most prominent strikes, as stated in a joint statement by the Prisoners' Affairs Commission and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club:

  • The Ramle prison strike in 1969 lasted 11 days.
  • Ashkelon prison strike in 1970, and the prisoner Abdul Qadir Abu al-Fahm, was the first martyr of the hunger strike in prisons.
  • The Ashkelon strike in 1976, which lasted 45 days, then the prisoners resumed the strike again in early 1977 and lasted 20 days.
  • The Nafha prison strike in 1980 in which prisoners Rasim Halawa, Ali al-Jaafari, Anis Dawla, and Ishaq Maragha were martyred.
  • The 1985 Jneid prison strike lasted 13 days.
  • The 1987 Jneid prison strike, in which 3,20 prisoners participated, lasted <> days.
  • The 1991 Nafha prison strike lasted 17 days.
  • The "Mother of Battles" strike in 1992, in which about 7,19 prisoners participated, lasted <> days, during which the prisoner Hussein Obeidat was martyred.
  • In 2000, prisoners went on strike that lasted a month.
  • The prisoners carried out a 2004-day strike in 19.
  • In 2011, prisoners carried out a 22-day strike.
  • In 2012, prisoners carried out a 28-day strike.
  • Administrative detainees staged two hunger strikes in 2014, one of which lasted 62 days.

  • The prisoners carried out the "Dignity Strike" in 2017 and lasted 42 days.


The most prominent individual strikes since 2012 are:

  • Khader Adnan is on a 66-day strike against administrative detention, which ended with his demand for his release.
  • Prisoner Hana al-Shalabi went on strike for 42 days, which she suspended in exchange for her release to the Gaza Strip.
  • Prisoner Thaer Halahleh is beaten for 76 days.
  • Prisoner Ayman al-Sharawneh was beaten for 261 days and ended with his deportation to Gaza.
  • In 2013, prisoner Adel Hreibat was beaten for 129 days.
  • Prisoner Ayman Tabish is beaten for 104 days.
  • In 2015, journalist Mohammed al-Qiq went on strike against his administrative detention that lasted 94 days.
  • Prisoner Khader Adnan is beaten again against his administrative detention for 56 days, which ended with his release.
  • In 2020, prisoner Maher al-Akhras went on strike that lasted 103 days.
  • In 2021, Al-Ghazanfar Abu Atwan went on strike for 65 days, rejecting his administrative detention.
  • The prisoner Kayed Al-Fasfos went on strike that lasted 131 days.
  • In 2022, Hisham Abu Hawash went on an open-ended hunger strike that lasted 141 days in rejection of his administrative detention.
  • In 2023, prisoner Khader Adnan goes on hunger strike again immediately after his arrest on February 5, until now.