5,000 Palestinian prisoners in Israel on hunger strike

Five thousand Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails went on hunger strike Thursday in solidarity with 120 detainees protesting their administrative detention, a Palestinian minister said.

Minister of Prisoners' Affairs Eissa Qaraqe said the one-day hunger strike was a strong message to Israeli prison services that they must stop their aggressive policies against the detainees, Xinhua reported.

One hundred and twenty out of 180 Palestinian inmates started an open-ended hunger strike two weeks ago to protest their administrative detention in Israeli prisons.

"The violations against the Palestinian prisoners will definitely lead to an explosion in the prisons," Qaraqe said.

The Palestinian minister said he sent a letter to UN Secretary- General Ban Ki-moon urging him to intervene to end what he described as Israeli violations against Palestinian prisoners.

Administrative detention is a policy that enables Israel to keep Palestinians in prison for renewable six-month periods without trial.

According to the ministry of prisoners' affairs, Israel has recently renewed the detention orders of 60 percent of Palestinian inmates under administrative detention.

Israel has issued 23,000 administrative detention orders since the outbreak of violence between the Palestinians and Israelis in 2000, or what the Palestinians call the second Intifada.

In 2012, around 1,500 Palestinian prisoners ended their 28-day hunger strike after Egypt brokered an agreement between the prisoners and Israel to improve day-to-day conditions in prisons.

Palestinian officials have accused Israel of failing to implement the agreement.