A small group of Israelis gathered at Rabin Square in Tel Aviv on Wednesday afternoon to protest for the release of Alexei Navalny, a prominent critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Protesters wore masks emblazoned with the phrase "free Navalny" and held up signs with messages of solidarity such as "Tel Aviv stands with Navalny" and "#FreeNavalny," as well as various comparisons between Putin and Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler.
Navalany has been on a hunger-strike for the past three weeks, protesting what he said was the refusal of prison authorities to provide him with treatment for leg and back pain.
He was moved to a prison hospital on Monday in the city of Vladimir, east of Moscow. His lawyer Alexei Liptser said after visiting him that his health was deteriorating and he had again been denied access to his own doctors.
"All the symptoms that he had before, they remain the same. Numbness in the arms and legs, back pain - they aren't going away... The situation is only getting worse," Liptser told Reuters.
Russia's prison service said Navalny, 44, was in a "satisfactory" state and he was being given "vitamin therapy" with his consent.
The Kremlin said it did not have information on Navalny's condition and it was not the role of Putin to monitor the health of prisoners.
Navalny was arrested on his return to Russia in January after treatment in Germany for what German authorities say was poisoning in Russia with a banned nerve agent. He and Western governments called it an attempted assassination; the Kremlin denies any blame.