The suffering of Palestinian prisoners held by Israel is continuing as the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) attempt to revoke their commitment to end inhumane treatment and return to the status quo prevailing in Israeli prisons prior to the year 2000.
 The lives of hunger strikers Mahmoud As-Sarsak and Akram Ar-Rakhawi are now in danger.
 According to media sources, the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) has recommended immediate release of As-Sarsak to the Israel Security Agency (Shabak) and the Minister of Interior due to the grave deterioration of his medical condition.
  Mahmoud As-Sarsak, a member of the Palestinian national soccer team detained under Israel’s Unlawful Combatant Law, is now on his 89th consecutive day of hunger strike.
 This is the longest hunger strike ever carried out by a detainee in Israeli prisons.
  According to the information available to Al Mezan, As-Sarsak has lost more than 30 kilograms of body mass.
 Al Mezan’s sources emphasize that As-Sarsak’s health condition is critical: he is suffering from weakness of the myocardium (heart muscle tissue), intestinal disturbances, and pain in different parts of his body, and he can no longer walk or see.
  He has also suffered fainting spells several times.
 On Thursday 7 June 2012, the IPS referred As-Sarsak from Ar-Ramla prison hospital to the civilian Meir hospital due to his deteriorating health condition.
 On Sunday 10 June 2012, the IPS referred him to Assaf Harofeh Medical Center.
  Medical sources described his health condition as critical.
  Akram Abdullah Ar-Rakhawi is now entering his 62nd consecutive day on hunger strike.
 He has been serving his prison term in Ar-Ramla prison hospital for the past eight years because he suffers from asthma.
  His health condition has deteriorated and he is now suffering from diabetes, brittleness of the bones, atrophy of the eye lenses, cataracts, increased cholesterol levels, and kidney problems.
 He is also suffering serious secondary symptoms such as swelling and a weakened immune system.
 A doctor from Physicians for Human Rights - Israel, after his last visit on 5 June 2012, warned that Ar-Rakhawi had begun to suffer such effects on his health and had lost about 26.
5% of his body mass.
 The only way to save his life is to immediately refer him to a civilian hospital where medicine can be provided regularly and in accordance with a comprehensive program of treatment.
 Ar-Rakhawi embarked on the hunger strike in order to demand his release, given that he has served two-thirds of his sentence and his health condition has deteriorated under Israeli detention.
  The suffering of Palestinian detainees held in Israeli prisons has continued in spite of the agreement reached with Egyptian meditation on 14 May 2012 to end a mass hunger strike.
  The detainees ended that strike, which they began on 17 April 2012 in protest against administrative detention, in exchange for promises to revoke the “Shalit Law,” return the situation inside Israeli prisons to what it had been prior to the Al Aqsa Intifada, impose legal restraints on the policy of administrative detention, and provide appropriate medical treatment for detainees.
  The IPS is now attempting to backtrack on the agreement and avoid its official implementation.
  On 6 June 2012, the IOF stormed into detainees’ cells in department four of Ramon prison.
 The IOF began to strip-search the prisoners and, when some of them refused to cooperate, beat them.
 Responding in protest, the detainees set fire to their bedsheets, after which the IPS imposed group punishment on them, cutting off their access to sunlight, confiscating all electrical devices, and cutting the electricity to their cells.
  Some detainees were also transferred to Nafha, Kidar, and Ishil prisons.
  The Al Mezan Center for Human Rights expresses its concern for the detainees’ health and lives and its solidarity with As-Sarsak, Ar-Rakhawi, and other Palestinian and Arab detainees in Israeli prisons, and holds the Israeli authorities responsible for their well-being.
  Al Mezan strongly condemns Israel’s gross abuses of Palestinian detainees, starting with the Unlawful Combatant Law, the policy of administrative detention, and other procedures that violate detainees’ rights, including solitary confinement, medical negligence, barring of family visitation, and other practices contrary to international standards, particularly the UN Minimum Standards for the Treatment of Prisoners.
  Al Mezan also calls on the international community, particularly the High Contracting Parties to the Geneva Conventions, to exert pressure on Israel to uphold its legal obligations under international law and its duties to respect detainees’ rights, including freedom from torture and ill-treatment, and to provide for detainees’ needs, including health care and the right to family visitation and correspondence and communication.
  Al Mezan reiterates its previous call on peace, democracy, and human rights supporters to organize a broad campaign in solidarity with Palestinians held in Israeli prisons.
 It also calls on them to exert pressure on Israel to uphold its legal and moral obligations under international humanitarian law and to end its gross and systematic abuses.