In protest of Israeli Minister of Security Itamar Ben Gvir's decision to reduce prisoner families' visits from once a month to once every two months, the Israeli Prisons' Administration announced that Palestinian detainees plan to start a hunger strike on September 14.
Ben Gvir gave instructions to the prisons' administration to limit families' visits to West Bank prisoners in occupation jails so that they happen once every two months rather than once a month.
These instructions, which apply to about 1,600 of the 5,000 prisoners who are eligible for family visits, will start to be put into practice starting today, Sunday.
This decision joins another arbitrary and retaliatory decision against prisoners made this week by Ben Gvir, which forbids the administrative discharge of ill or elderly prisoners whose sentences are about to expire. This decision is a practice the prison authority employs to lessen prison overcrowding.