An imprisoned terrorist commander of Hamas's armed wing who is serving 67 life terms has been placed in solitary confinement for speaking to a radio station, the Israel Prisons Authority said Sunday.
Abdullah Barghouti gave an interview to Hamas radio using a mobile telephone "smuggled into the prison where he is being held, and has been placed in an isolation cell," said spokeswoman Sivan Weizman.
The duration of his stay in solitary confinement has yet to be determined, she added.
Barghouti is a leading commander of the Ezzedine al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of the Islamist terror movement which is the de facto ruler of the Gaza Strip.
Arrested in 2003 by the Israel Security Agency (ISA or Shin Bet), Barghouti was sentenced to 67 life terms by a military court the following year over terrorist attacks in the Jewish state that murdered 66 and wounded hundreds more.
During the interview, Barghouti turned to Hamas and urged them not to rush to reach a deal on the issue of releasing terrorists, which the terror organization has vowed to do numerous times over the past year and a half and in various contexts.
"We are patient," he said, "and will continue to be so even if we'd be released in a thousand years."