Some 8,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails started on Saturday a two-day hunger strike to protest their detention and deteriorating living conditions, Palestinian sources said.

The Palestinian Prisoner's Club Association said in a statement the strike coincided with the annual day of the Palestinian prisoners.

The club said the aim of the strike was "to attract the world's attention to the hard living conditions the prisoners are suffering every day in the Israeli jails."

"These hard living conditions contradict all international resolutions and conventions as well as the principles of human rights," said the statement.

It said the prisoners called on the Palestinians and the world to support their legal cause.

Israel agreed to release 900 Palestinian prisoners as part of confidence-building package reached with the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) on Feb. 8 at Egypt's Red Sea resort of Sharm el Sheikh.

The first batch of 500 prisoners have been freed, but the left 400 are still held in jails.

Palestinian militant groups, mainly Hamas and Islamic Jihad, warned if Israel doesn't release prisoners, the mutual ceasefire agreed upon at the Feb. 8 Sharm el Sheikh summit would collapse.

Source: Xinhua