Fourteen Palestinian administrative detainees in Israel are currently on hunger strike demanding an end to their illegal incarceration without charge or trial, today said Palestinian prisoners’ advocates.

They said the 14 administrative detainees are held in four different prisons throughout Israel and the occupied Palestinian territories and they started the hunger strike at different times.

Administrative detainees often resort to hunger strike to win their freedom otherwise they can be kept in prison for years without any charge or trial as the Israeli occupation authorities often would renew their detention, which is sometimes set three, four, six or 12 months, based on secret evidence not seen by the prisoners or their lawyers.

Several Palestinian administrative detainees have won their freedom after going on long and painful hunger strike, the latest was Ghadanfar Abu Atwan, who was on hunger strike for almost three months before Israel agreed to end his detention and set him free at the end of his term.

Currently, Israel is holding some 540 Palestinians in administrative detention, deemed illegal by international law, most of them former prisoners who spent years in prison for their resistance of the Israeli occupation.