RAMALLAH, April 12 (Xinhua) -- A Hamas commander who received the longest sentence from an Israeli court started a hunger strike Thursday, protesting against his solitary confinement, local sources said.

Abdullah Al-Barghouti, 41, told his lawyer about the strike and said he will end it when the Israeli Prison Service returns him to the regular rooms, said a statement by the Palestinian Prisoner's Club.

Al-Barghouti, head of Hamas' armed wing in the West Bank, also wanted his family members who lives in Jordan, to be granted permission to visit him regularly.

Al-Barghouti was arrested in 2003 and received 67 life sentences and 5,200 years' jail term. Israel accused him of masterminding a series of attacks and suicide bombings that led to the death of 66 Israelis.

A number of prisoners went on hunger strike in recent months, with the aim to end their administrative detention. Hana Shalabi, a woman from the West Bank, was expelled to Gaza earlier this month after 44 days of hunger strike. She reached a deal with Israel to stay in Gaza for three years.

On Feb. 21, an Islamic Jihad leader, Khader Adnan, suspended his hunger strike on the 66th day after Israel agreed not to extend or renew his administrative detention which ends in April.

Israel holds about 5,000 Palestinians, 309 of them on administrative detention.