Top activist urges int’l pressure over plight of Palestinian prisoners amid pandemic

Top Palestinian activist Leila Khaled has urged international organizations to pressure Israel over the plight of Palestinian prisoners as fears arise over Israel’s handling of the COVID-19 outbreak.

News ID: 449821

Date: 30 March 2020 - 11:47

RNA - “We urge more pressure on the Zionist enemy in relation to Palestinian prisoners,” Khaled said while speaking with the Lebanese Al-Mayadeen news network on Sunday.

The Palestinian activist highlighted that among Palestinians imprisoned by Israel, some had spent more than three decades under captivity.

Khaled, which is also a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), called on differing Palestinian factions to put away differences given the current circumstances.

Various groups and organizations, including the Arab League along with the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, have called on Israel to release Palestinian prisoners amid the spread of COVID-19 in the occupied territories.

Palestinian prisoners have also threatened to go on an open-ended hunger strike against what they describe as the denial of adequate protective measures by Israeli authorities.

According to Palestine's health ministry, the infectious disease has affected 106 Palestinians and has led to one death as of Sunday. Nine of the infected people are in the Gaza Strip and the rest in the occupied West Bank.

The Israeli regime’s figures also show that as of Sunday, 3,865 Israelis have tested positive for the disease, along with 14 deaths.

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