"Today, some 250 inmates from the Islamic Jihad movement in various Israeli prisons started a hunger strike to protest harsh punishments by prison administrations, which were intensified after [the prisoner escape of] September 6," the commission said on Facebook.
According to the statement, Islamic Jihad members are being transferred to solitary confinement to isolate them from their fellow members.
On September 6, six Palestinian prisoners escaped from the Gilboa high-security prison in northern Israel. Among the fugitives was Zakaria Zubeidi, one of the leaders of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a coalition of armed Palestinian groups designated a terrorist organization in several counties, including Israel.
The fugitives were later caught by the Israeli police after authorities launched a manhunt.