Bethlehem - Families of political detainees in PA jails have urged their immediate release, saying there was no justification for their continued detention at a time when detainees affiliated with the Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, armed wing of Fatah Movement, in the PA jail of Jericho declared a hunger strike.

The 13 detainees were held after the Israeli government accused them of planning and involvement in anti-occupation targets the latest of which being the Atsion raid that left three settlers killed south of occupied Jerusalem and 30 others injured.

The detainees chose to start their open-ended hunger strike on the first day of Eidul Fitr, the Muslim feast marking the end of the holy fasting month of Ramadan, to shed more light on their case, according to relatives who visited those internees on the first day of Eid.

The detainees demand their release and until that could be made, they ask for alleviating their "cruel detention conditions" and improving quality of food. They also denounced the PA military police's improper treatment of their visitors.

They told their relatives that agents to the Israeli occupation were held in the same jail and even share their rooms, which posed a threat to their lives. The prison authority did not budge to change the situation, saying that those agents were merely detainees.

The prisoners said that they would not remain silent for long over such a situation but would not divulge details of their protest measures.