Israel says video shows Palestinian hunger-strike leader eating

Israel's prison authority on Sunday shared a video of what it says is jailed Palestinian leader Marwan Barghouti eating after weeks of leading hundreds on a hunger strike.

His wife, Fadwa Barghouti, said the footage was "fake" and "intended to break the morale of prisoners" after more than 1,000 Palestinians in Israeli jails joined Barghouti in refusing food on April 17.

The protesting prisoners have issued a list of demands including better medical services, family visits and more dignified detention conditions.

The video, which was published by Israeli media outlets, purportedly shows Barghouti eating cakes in footage said to have been shot on April 27 and May 5, according to a statement from the authority.

Barghouti, a senior member of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah party and a highly popular figure among Palestinians, is serving five life sentences over his role in the second Palestinian intifada, or uprising.

His wife said on Sunday Barghouti had been put in solitary confinement 22 times since he was jailed.

"These measures to break the morale of prisoners show Israel's failure," she said.

Israeli Internal Security Minister Gilad Erdan denounced "Barghouti's political calculations".

Israeli authorities say 894 Palestinian prisoners have kept up the strike.

Some 850,000 Palestinians have been incarcerated since the Israel's occupation of their territories 50 years ago, Palestinian leaders say.

Source: AFP