RAMALLAH (Anadolu) – Four Palestinian prisoners have vowed to continue their hunger strike to protest their indefinite detention without trial by the Zionist regime, according to a local NGO.
Among the striking detainees is Khalil Awawdeh, who has been on hunger strike for 165 days, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a statement.
As part of an Egyptian-brokered cease-fire that brought a recent offensive by the occupying regime on Gaza to a halt last week, Cairo said it will seek to ensure the release of Awawdeh and Islamic Jihad detainee Bassam al-Saadi.
Zionist regime authorities transferred Awawdeh to hospital on Thursday as his health deteriorated.
The NGO said two other detainees have staged a hunger strike nine days ago to protest their so-called administrative detention without charge or trial.
“An Arab-Israeli has also been on hunger strike for the fifth day in a row to protest his detention,” the statement said, adding that the detainee has been hospitalized as his health deteriorated.
For years, Palestinians jailed by the regime have used these protests to demand better living conditions and an end to indefinite detentions.
Hasan Abed Rabbo, a spokesman for the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, said on Sunday that 40-year-old Awawdeh could face irreversible health consequences any moment.
He said Awawdeh’s health condition is rapidly deteriorating, and that he was suffering from severe joint pain, headache, dizziness and a blurred vision. He now requires a wheelchair and is also showing memory loss and speech difficulties.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club, which represents former and current prisoners, confirmed that Awawdeh’s condition had worsened.
“He is in a real life-threatening situation,” said Qadura Fares, the head of the organization, adding, “He could die at any moment.”
Awawdeh, from the West Bank city of al-Khalil, was arrested on December 27, 2021.
Thousands of Palestinians are held in the Zionist regime’s jails. Human rights organizations say the regime violates all the rights and freedoms granted to prisoners by the Geneva Convention. They say ‘administrative detention’ violates the right to due process since the evidence is withheld from prisoners while they are held for lengthy periods without being charged, tried, or convicted.