Palestinian Authority Arab terrorists who are serving time in the Israeli Ramon prison have announced their intention to start a hunger strike as of Tuesday.

A statement issued by the Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs of the Hamas government in Gaza said that the approximately 700 prisoners in the Ramon prison will begin a gradual hunger strike. Initially, the statement said, the inmates will strike every Tuesday and then add more days to the strike, depending on the prison’s response to their demands.

The prisoners have reportedly made a list of demands, including that prisoners no longer be placed in solitary confinement, that prisoners who were forbidden to receive visits be allowed to meet with their relatives, especially those from Gaza who have been denied visits collectively for nearly six years, that prisoners be allowed to call their families, that they once again be allowed to study for academic degrees, that the food served to them is improved, and that inmates be allowed to once again watch television channels such as Al Jazeera.

The prisoners are also demanding that Israel stop the “negligent” medical policy, as they put it, and provide them with proper medical care and enable outside physicians, especially dentists, to examine the prisoners. They are also asking that personal and collective punishments be stopped.

The Ministry of Prisoners’ Affairs clarified that if the prisoners’ demands are not met, they intend to escalate their strike to the point that it becomes a general strike in all prisons.

A 2008 report in the Ma’ariv newspaper exposed all the benefits enjoyed by terrorists imprisoned in Israel. In fact, one Prison Services official told the newspaper that the terrorists live in “one big summer camp for thousands of prisoners.”

Some of the privileges granted to terrorist inmates in Israel include them being granted three hours a day to wander the premises, receiving meat and fish on holidays, being allowed to purchase 1,200 shekels worth of food each month in the prison canteen, receiving a personal television set in their cell that receives 12 channels, and many other benefits.

These benefits are even given to murderers who have expressed no remorse for their actions.

In contrast, Hamas held Gilad Shalit captive in Gaza for more than five years and did not allow him a single visit by the International Red Cross.

The terrorist prisoners have previously announced that they would go on a hunger strike last September and last June.