On Monday, dozens of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip participated in a protest against the administrative detention policy imposed by Israel on Palestinian detainees.
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The participants in the vigil organized by the “Hamas” movement in front of the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross in Gaza City raised banners, some of which read, “We reject administrative detention” and “We demand the international community to release our prisoners.”
Iyad Abu Funun said in a speech on behalf of the “Hamas” movement, delivered on the sidelines of the vigil, that “administrative detention and abuse of prisoners is illegal.”
“We hold the human rights, legal and international institutions that claim human rights and stand silent in the face of administrative detention and abuse of responsibility for Israeli violations,” he added.
He called on the international community to intervene and pressure Israel to release the detainees.
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He also warned Israel against “persevering the policy of administrative detention and abuse of prisoners,” saying, “The enemy should not test our patience…
And we will face the abuse of prisoners with the same language and force with which we faced the abuse of Jerusalem (in reference to the last battle).”
For his part, Hamas leader Muhammad al-Ghoul said that “administrative detention is a policy that is legally and internationally rejected, and it constitutes the largest crime of racial discrimination practiced by Israel.”
In a speech on the sidelines of the rally, he continued, “Israel is blatantly violating international law and human rights when detaining Palestinian parliamentarians, or in administrative detention.”
Administrative detention is a decision of detention without trial approved by the Israeli intelligence in coordination with the military commander in the occupied West Bank.
It is for a period of between one and six months and is approved based on “secret security information” against the detainee.
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Israel detains in its jails around 5,300 Palestinians, including 40 captive and 250 children, and approximately 520 administrative detainees according to the official Palestinian data.
