Some 1,600 Palestinians in Israeli prisons will go on an open-ended hunger strike starting April 17, the Palestinian Authority’s minister for prisoner affairs, Issa Qaraqi, announced Saturday.

The prisoners are demanding an end to administrative detentions and solitary confinement. They are also demanding that Israel permit visits by families from the Gaza Strip and cancel its decision to ban prisoners from engaging in academic studies and reading newspapers.

“The situation inside Israeli prisons has become very dangerous and serious,” Qaraqi told reporters in Ramallah after being informed by the prisoners of their decision to embark on the hunger strike. “The Israeli government is using the prisoners as a tool to retaliate against the Palestinian people and their leadership.”

The prisoners who will take part are affiliated with Hamas, Islamic Jihad, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.