The strike has been called for by prominent Palestinian prisoner and leader Marwan Barghouti, who is now serving a life sentence over his role in the second Palestinian intifada - or uprising.
Under the title "Why we are on hunger strike in Israel's prisons", Barghouti wrote that 50 years of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip has proved that Israel has been using an "inhumane system" incarceration to break "the spirit of prisoners.by inflicting suffering on their bodies, separating them from their families and communities and using humiliating measures to compel subjugation".
Israel's Public Security Minister Gilad Erdan, however, said that the strike was motivated by internal Palestinian politics rather than a complaint on prison conditions, and called the demands "unreasonable".
Palestinian officials and activists put the number of hunger strikers at 1,300 and 1,500, respectively, saying it is hard to get updates from inside the prisons.
In recent years, previous Palestinian hunger strikers in Israeli custody have come close to death and had to be hospitalized.
According to the Israeli Prison Service, 700 Palestinian prisoners have declared that they will join the hunger strike, a number that the service expects to increase in coming days.
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The media committee said the strikers aim at restoring many of their rights that were taken away by the occupation prisons administration, which they had achieved through many past strikes.
"It's being led by Marwan Barghouti, a key Palestinian political figure found guilty of directing deadly attacks on Israelis", Daniel adds.
"These are terrorists and incarcerated murderers who are getting exactly what the worldwide law requires", he told Israel's Army Radio. Polls suggest that the 58-year-old Barghouti is the most popular choice among Palestinians to succeed the 82-year-old Abbas.
"It is to be emphasized that the (prison service) does not negotiate with prisoners", he said. "There is no reason to give them additional conditions in addition to what they already receive".
Issa Qaraqe, head of prisoners affairs for the Palestinian Authority, said that "around 1,300 Palestinian prisoners" were participating in the hunger strike and the number could rise.
"It doesn't have to do with publishing the article (in The New York Times) but rather that he is instigating mutiny and leading the hunger strike and that is a severe violation of the rules of the prison", he said.
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