ICRC Statement
27 April 2017

Jerusalem (ICRC) – ICRC teams continued their visits to detainees on hunger strike for the second consecutive day today. Today, Thursday the 27th of April, ICRC delegates visited Gilboa prison and met with all detainees on hunger strike in the prison.

Hundreds of detainees on hunger strike in Nafkha and Gilboa prisons have now been visited by the ICRC over the past two days.

“We will be carrying out additional visits to the remaining detainees on hunger strike in the coming days”, announced Christian Cardon, head of mission for the ICRC in Jerusalem and the West Bank. “We are aware that we are currently the only link detainees on hunger strike have to the outside world. It is in that spirit that we are prioritizing the collection of oral greetings from detainees to their respective families. Our teams are working hard and for long hours to ensure all messages are conveyed to the families as soon as possible”.

The ICRC re-iterates its commitment to follow up on all detainees on hunger strike. “The hunger strike is a key priority to us. We are doing all that is within our reach to deliver on our responsibilities within the limitations of the role we have in cases of hunger strike”, concluded Mr. Cardon.

For further information, please contact:

Nadia Dibsy (Arabic, English & French), ICRC Jerusalem, tel: +972 52 601 91 48
Jesus Serrano (English, French and Spanish), ICRC Jerusalem, tel: +972 52 601 9150
Suhair Zakkout (Arabic and English), ICRC Gaza, tel: +972 59 92 55 381