Israel has taken measures against some 1,200 Palestinian prisoners on a hunger strike, denying them family visits and separating them from inmates not taking part in the protest, prison authorities said on Monday. The open-ended strike, dubbed the “battle of empty stomachs” by organizers, began last Tuesday. The prisoners are demanding better jail conditions and for Israel to end detention without trial for Palestinians suspected of security offenses.

“Privileges such as family visits have been revoked and items such as electronics have been confiscated,” Sivan Weizman, a spokeswoman for the Israeli Prisons Authority, said. Palestinian prisoners have long complained of the difficulty of securing family visits and the invasive searches visiting relatives have to go through. The striking prisoners have said they would drink only water and salt until their demands are met.

Amani Sarahna of the Palestinian Prisoners Club, an advocacy group for Palestinians jailed by Israel, said prison authorities had conducted extensive searches in hunger strikers’ cells, taking away salt from those refusing to eat.

“All the prisoners’ belongings were confiscated except their towels and their shoes,” Sarahna said.

According to Ma’an News Agency, an Israeli military court on Monday refused an appeal by long-term hunger-strikers Thaer Halahla and Bilal Diyab to end their detention without charge, prisoners groups said. Muhjat al-Quds society for the defense of prisoners said Ofer military court rejected the appeal against the prisoners administrative detention, on the 56th day of their hunger-strike. Lawyer Jamil Khatib will now take their petitions to Israel’s Supreme Court. The rulings show the negotiations to end the prisoners’ hunger strike have failed, as they refused Israel’s suggestion to deport them to Gaza, Addameer Director Sahar Francis told Ma’an.

Negotiations are more difficult now that over a thousand prisoners have joined the hunger strike, as Israeli authorities say they refuse to encourage others by agreeing not to renew the hunger-strikers’ administrative detention, Khatib said. Thiab, from Jenin, has been held without charge since August. In February, Israel extended the 27-year-old’s sentence for a further six months without a trial. Halahla, from Hebron, was detained in July 2010. Israel has the 33-year-old’s administrative detention order several times, most recently on March 5 for another six months.

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