The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and the Islamic Hamas movement on Tuesday called on the European Union (EU) to press Israel to meet the demands of the hunger striking prisoners.

Riad al-Maliki, Palestinian foreign affairs minister, welcomed the call by the EU's missions in Jerusalem and Ramallah on Israel to provide medical care for the hunger strikers and improve the conditions of imprisonment.

Al-Maliki said the EU members should "demonstrate these calls into actions on the ground by putting more pressure on Israel." He warned that "time was not on the side of anybody and that the death of any inmate would affect stability in the region."

Meanwhile, Gaza ruler Hamas said that the EU's call to Israel was "insufficient," and said that Europe should take "practical steps to save the prisoners."

Two of the Palestinians in Israeli jails have been fasting for 72 days to protest their administrative detention, a tactic that allows Israel to hold them without a charge.

On April 17, at least 1,500 detainees started a hunger strike to protest against their prison conditions and demand improvements. The strike, started individually by dozens of inmates days and weeks earlier, is the biggest collective protest in Israeli jails.

Israel holds 4,700 Palestinians, 320 of them on the so-called administrative detention.