Relatives of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails urged the United Nations on Thursday to exert pressure on Israel to respect their human rights.

In a memorandum to visiting UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay, the families asked her to "to take necessary measures and actions to activate the protection of human rights and set upon a monitoring system to ensure that Israeli government abides by these human rights principles."

The memorandum also urged the UN General Assembly "to work on issuing a decision that condemns Israel and forces it to comply with the international conventions, particularly the Geneva conventions."

Some 7,000 Palestinians are in Israeli jails, among them 34 women and 300 minors, according the the families of prisoners. Of these, 129 have been incarcerated for more than 20 years.

"We asked Mrs Pillay to make the violations of rights against the Palestinians cease, and also to have the Israeli blockade lifted," Khalil Abu Shamala, head of a Gaza Strip-based rights group, told AFP.

The UN rights chief's first visit to Israel and the Palestinian Territories began on Sunday and is to end on Friday.