Hundreds of Palestinians, incarcerated in Israeli jails, ended a 40-day hunger strike after Israel’s Prison Services together with Palestinian officials reached an agreement on improving the conditions of the inmates. About 1,100 inmates had initially taken part in one of the largest such hunger strikes, which began on April 17. It raised tensions between Israel and the Palestinians, with protests in support of the strikers spilling over into clashes in the West Bank and along the Israeli border with the Gaza Strip. More than 800 inmates from the initial 1,100 had stuck with the hunger strike until Saturday, when the agreement was reached between Israel and the Palestinian leadership, effectively ending the strike. It is important to note that the prisoners are incarcerated for security related crimes, with many of them serving for long-periods of time after they were indicted by Israel’s judicial system, for direct or indirect involvement with terror related offenses.
