On April 7, two days before the general elections, hundreds of Hamas members jailed in Israel will launch a hunger strike. According to the announcement by the prisoners’ leadership, and in contrast to previous hunger strikes, this time the inmates will not even drink water. The idea is for them to succumb quickly, flooding hospitals and increasing pressure on Israel to acquiesce to their demand. The first to strike will be prisoner leaders in five facilities, followed by all the Hamas prison population. Prisoners affiliated with other organizations, such as Fatah and its top official, former Tanzim head Marwan Barghouti, who is serving five life sentences, will join them.
The Israel Prison Service (IPS) has declared an emergency and beefed up its deployment. The IPS has reportedly called up doctors for reserve duty to administer forced feeding as the strike expands and the condition of the strikers deteriorates. Previous hunger strikes sparked bitter clashes with the Israel Medical Association (IMA) over the ethics of force-feeding. The IMA has already informed the IPS ahead of time that doctors would refuse to force-feed prisoners at death’s door.
