Jailed terrorist
Jailed terroristFlash 90

An Israeli minister said Sunday that 300 Arab terrorists have agreed to end an almost two-week-old hunger strike aimed at forcing Israel to release security prisoners and to provide improved benefits to those who remain behind bars.

The hunger strike was endorsed earlier this month by arch-terrorist and mass-murderer Marwan Barghouti.

Three hundred hunger strikers have "agreed to take food without having obtained" any of their demands, Israel's Internal Security Minister, Gilad Erdan (Likud), told Army Radio.

"Negotiations are out of the question," he said, adding that 920 Palestinian prisoners remained on hunger strike.

Erdan also said the prison service planned to set up 400 medical centers inside jails "to avoid as much as possible the transfer of hunger striking detainees to civilian hospitals".

The hunger strike began on April 17, with those taking part ingesting only water and salt. They have issued demands ranging from better medical care to phone access.