Palestinian committee slams new Israeli measures against Palestinian prisoners

GAZA -- A joint Palestinian committee comprising various Palestinian factions on Thursday denounced the new Israeli measures against Palestinian prisoners as "a declaration of war."

Ismail Radwan, a senior Islamic Hamas movement leader and a member of the Prisoners' Committee of Islamic and National Factions, said during a sit-in in front of the headquarters of the International Committee of the Red Cross that the Israeli measures "are rejected."

"The new Israeli measures against our prisoners will not break the prisoners' determination and will never force us to stop our procession of struggle against the occupation," said Radwan.

He stressed that the question of Palestinians imprisoned in Israeli jails "will remain the top priority of the national and Islamic factions and political powers."

He called on international rights groups "to act as immediately as possible to stop all these criminal measures, which contradict with the international laws and the principles of human rights."

Earlier on Thursday, Israel Radio reported that Israeli Minister of Interior Security Gilad Ardan announced that a new plan has been created to tighten measures against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

The measures include reducing the number of family visiting hours, barring prisoners from preparing food inside their rooms, and reducing the number of hours of watching television.

Israel is currently holding more than 6,000 Palestinian and Arab prisoners in its jails, including 250 children, 54 women and 27 prisoners who have been imprisoned for more than three decades.