RAMALLAH, April 9 (Xinhua) -- A Palestinian official said Tuesday that Egypt is exerting efforts with Israel to meet the demands of the Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike in Israeli jails.
"Egyptian mediators are making efforts with Israel to implement what has been agreed upon between the prisoners and the Israeli prisons services," said Qadri Abu Bakr, head of the prisoners' affairs section in Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO).
Abu Bakr said the Egyptian efforts "are conducted directly with the Israelis side on one hand and with Hamas Movement on the other within a truce understanding between Palestinian factions and Israel in the Gaza Strip."
He also pointed out that the prisoners are watching what result could come out from the Egyptian efforts in order to decide whether to proceed with the strike or suspend it.
The PLO official expressed the hope that Israel would respond positively and bring the situation in the prisons back to what it used to be before the strike.
The Palestinian Prisoners' Club announced that dozens of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons began Monday afternoon an open hunger strike.
Ismail Haniyeh, the Hamas politburo chief, said last week that the question of Palestinian prisoners' living situation in Israeli jails was discussed in the truce talks held between Gaza factions and the Egyptian security delegation.
Haniyeh said in a meeting with writers and political analysts held in Gaza last week that the prisoners' demands include ending the sanctions that were imposed recently by Israel on the prisoners.
He added that leaders of the Palestinian factions demanded, through the Egyptian mediators, Israeli guarantees of a decent life for the prisoners and allow their families to visit them as they used to do before the sanctions were imposed.
Israel is currently holding more than 6,000 Palestinian prisoners, including 27 who have been in Israeli jails for more than three decades.
