Day: 30 April 2022

Two Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli prisons currently remain on hunger strike for 58 and 24 days in a row in protest of their unfair administrative detention without a charge or trial, according to the Detainees Affairs Commission.

Khalil Awawdeh, 40, from the town of Idna, in the southern West Bank Hebron district, has been on hunger strike for 58 days in protest against his prolonged administrative detention without charge or trial.

He is reported to be suffering from headaches, fatigue, pain in the joints, irregular heartbeats, frequent vomiting and significant loss of weight after 58 days of hunger strike.

The other prisoner, Ra’ed Rayyan, 27, from the village of Bayt Duqu in the West Bank province of Jerusalem, has been on hunger strike for 24 days demanding termination of his detention without charge or trial.

Israel’s widely condemned policy of administrative detention allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals usually ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.

Currently, Israel is holding over 500 Palestinians in administrative detention, deemed illegal by international law, most of them former prisoners who spent years in prison for their resistance of the Israeli occupation.

Over the years, Israel has placed thousands of Palestinians in administrative detention for prolonged periods of time, without trying them, without informing them of the charges against them, and without allowing them or their counsel to examine the evidence.

Amnesty International, has described Israel’s administrative detention policy as a “cruel, unjust practice which helps maintain Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians.”

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

British activists from the pro-Palestinian group Palestine Action yesterday shut down the London headquarters of an Israeli-owned arms firm for the third time in two weeks.

Palestine Action said in a statement that a number of its activists chained themselves together across the entrance to the building at 77 Kingsway after spraying it with red paint representing the blood of Palestinians killed by the Israeli occupation forces.

The action was part of a nationwide campaign by Palestine Action to shut down the factories and offices of Elbit Systems UK, which makes drones and surveillance drones and unmanned attack aircraft for the Israeli military.

Palestine Action said in a statement: “The site has been sprayed in Palestine Action’s typical blood-red paint as Elbit’s involvement in the slaughter of Palestinian civilians is exposed by those taking action.

“Elbit products, such as surveillance technologies, small calibre munitions, and military drones — some of which are British-manufactured — have been deployed against Palestinians over the previous month, with Elbit’s continued operations in this country marking us as complicit in this Palestinian suffering.”

The group said that “action against Elbit Systems will continue unabated, despite increased police and court harassment and intimidation being taken against those standing against the suppliers of arms to war criminals.”

Palestine Action’s campaign against Elbit was launched in August 2020.

Elbit had five factories in Britain but the number was reduced to four when Elbit permanently closed its weapons factory at Oldham in Greater Manchester in February after a sustained campaign of occupations by Palestine Action and protests and blockades at the factory by other Palestine supporters.

The protests were supported by Palestine Solidarity Campaign, other Palestine groups from Manchester and activists from Oldham Peace and Justice Campaign.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

The Israeli occupation’s navy last night opened fire on unarmed Palestinian fishermen as they were sailing off the shores of the city of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip, forcing them to return to the shore, according to local sources.

WAFA correspondent said the Israeli navy fired live bullets towards fishermen who were sailing approximately six nautical miles away from the shore, forcing them to stop fishing and return to the shore.

Israeli naval forces and their gunboats have long been harassing Gaza fishermen, shooting at them, damaging their boats and making arrests. Sometimes fishermen were injured or killed during gunfire attacks.

In addition to attacking fishermen, Israel regularly bans boats from accessing the water and reduces the fishing zone which Palestinians from Gaza can access.

Israeli naval authorities have been enforcing a naval blockade on Gaza’s 40-kilometre-length coast since 2007.

The blockade has restricted fishing for the 3,700 registered fishermen in Gaza – the majority of whom live below the poverty line by shrinking the fishing zone from 25 nautical miles, down to only six to nine nautical miles, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

Ten Palestinian young men were arrested by the Israeli occupation forces last night at Qalandia checkpoint, at Jerusalem-Ramallah road, according to local sources.

Witnesses told WAFA that the ten young men were on their way back home to the West Bank coming from occupied Jerusalem after performing prayers at the Al-Aqsa Mosque in the city.

The ten were taken to an unknown destination by the Israeli occupation authorities.

Of note, the Islamic Waqf authority in charge of the holy sites in Jerusalem said yesterday that nearly 160,000 worshipers, most of them Palestinians from the West Bank, Jerusalem and Arab towns inside Israel, prayed at the Al-Aqsa Mosque on the fourth Friday of the holy month Ramadan.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)

The Israeli occupation army last night shut down with earth mounds the northern entrance to the city of Salfit in the center of the occupied West Bank, denying access into and out of the town to the Palestinian traffic and pedestrians, according to witnesses.

Clashes erupted between the Israeli occupation forces and angry Palestinan youths in the aftermath of the closure, during which the forces fired live bullets, stun grenades and teargas to disperse the Palestinians. No injuries were reported.

The Israeli occupation army also beefed up its presence and restrictions on many neighboring villages and placed temporary checkpoints there, according to local sources, causing delays.

Source: Palestinian News & Info Agency (WAFA)