JERUSALEM — Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails ended a hunger strike late on Friday after 40 days, as their health was deteriorating and after, media reports said, the authorities agreed to 11 of the prisoners’ demands. (Israel had denied them salt for many days)
About 1,700 Palestinian prisoners had taken part in the strike, and Israeli officials said this past week that nearly every prisoner had needed hospital care, including the leader of the strike, Marwan Barghouti, a Palestinian politician convicted of five murders in the Palestinian uprising that began in 2000.
(Many hunger strikes ended up with the same agreement on demands. In general, Israel renege on its agreements after a few months, depending on the internal political exigencies)
In a statement on Saturday, Mr. Barghouti confirmed the end of the hunger strike, timed to the beginning of Ramadan, the holy Muslim month of fasting. But he did not specify any agreements with the Israeli authorities. The statement called the strike an “important step towards full respect of the rights of Palestinian prisoners.”
Israeli prison officials could not be immediately reached for comment on Saturday.
The strikers, among 6,500 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, had demanded more family visits, an end to solitary confinement, better health care and greater access to education. Media reports said the Israeli authorities had agreed to a prisoner’s demand for a second monthly family visit.
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