The Palestinian envoy to the UN on Thursday called for the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene to help end a crisis over a hunger strike by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Ambassador Riyad Mansour to the UN Security Council said that the ICRC can play a “facilitating role” to avert “the dangerous consequences of a deterioration of this situation.”

The Palestinian detainees, led by popular leader Marwan Barghouti, launched the hunger strike on Monday to press demands such as better medical services and access to telephones.

Several dozen Palestinian protesters clashed with Israeli forces Thursday outside a prison north of Jerusalem where detainees are on the hunger strike. Palestinian prisoners have mounted repeated hunger strikes, but rarely on such a scale.

source: Alarabiya