The Ministry of Detainees at the Hamas-led interim government issued a press release calling on the Egyptian government to immediately release all Palestinian detainees held in Egyptian prisons. The Ministry held Egypt responsible for the safety of the detainees who are on hunger strike for the sixteenth day.
The political prisoners are held in Al Aqrab and Borj Al Arab Egyptian detention facilities.
In its press release, the Ministry stated that the Palestinian political prisoners in Egypt did not conduct any act that would harm Egypt or its security, and that they were trying to send food to their people living under siege in the Gaza Strip.
The detainees in question were trying to smuggle food supplies via the tunnels between Gaza and Egypt.
One of the striking detainees, held at the Al Aqrab Prison in Cairo, is in a bad health condition and requires urgent medical attention.
Furthermore, the Ministry expressed hopes that, unlike the former regime of Hosni Mubarak, the new government will lend a helping hand to the Palestinians and their struggle against the occupation.
It said that former Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak, “was siding by the Israeli occupation against the interests of the Palestinian people, especially in the Gaza Strip”.
