The Telegraph: Palestinian Prisoners Enter Hunger Strike!

A pair of Palestinian prisoners being held without charge enter day 74 without food, as physicians believe their lives are in "immediate danger". Humanitarian organization Physicians for Human Rights (PHR), expressed concern about prisoners Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh as they began their 74th day without food on Friday. An estimated 1,600 out of 4,800 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails stopped taking food on April 17, demanding better conditions, an end to administrative detention and solitary confinement and more family visits. Diab and Halahleh, two of six prisoners, have refused food for between 49 and 74 days according to PHR, were among the first wave of inmates whose initial refusals to accept food prompted the mass hunger strike. The scope of the strike has posed a new challenge to Israel, which has come under international criticism over detentions without trial, and could face a violent Palestinian backlash if any of the protesters die. At the PHR offices in Tel Aviv, the director of the Prisoners and Detainees department said Halahleh's life was in "immediate danger." His doctor told him that hislifew is in immediate danger, and that he could die any moment. What is very worrisome is the fact that he doesn't want to be saved if something happens to him, and he loses consciousness. He doesn't want resuscitation," Anat Litvin said, adding that the organization believed that the prisoners did not have access to adequate equipment or expertise. The fate of the hunger strikers has touched a nerve in the Palestinian territories, with daily demonstrations in the occupied West Bank and in the Gaza Strip to support the movement.