Occupied Palestine – Palestinian administrative detainee in Israeli prisons, Khalil Awawdeh, continues his open-ended hunger strike for the 77th day in a row amid serious deterioration in his health condition.
The Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) confirmed on Wednesday that Awawdeh suffers from loss of control over his body and severe pain in his head and limbs.
The PPS added that Awawdeh also has difficulty in talking and suffers from poor vision and concentration, according to his lawyer.
The detainee suffers from severe fatigue, and he has not been provided with clothes or even allowed to bathe by the Israel Prison Service (IPS) for 40 days.
According to his lawyer, Awawdeh also complained about the condition in the Ramleh prison clinic, where ‘Israel’ has moved him to, and described it as a ‘slaughterhouse’ intended to abuse the detainees.
It has been reported that he suffered from frequent vomiting and an extreme weight loss of 20kg.
‘Israel’ detained Awawdeh, a 40-year-old resident of the southern occupied city of Hebron, on December 27, 2021. He has been on an open-ended hunger strike since March 3.
Awawdeh was held at the Ofer prison, in western Ramallah in the occupied West Bank.
Last month, he was moved to the Ramleh prison clinic due to deterioration of his health.
The Israeli Prison Service, however, returned him back to Ramleh prison clinic again after being transferred to Assaf Harofeh hospital last week despite his health condition.
Moreover, Awawdeh, who is married and a father of four girl children, has previously spent a total of 12 years in Israeli prisons for resisting the occupation, including five years of administrative detention. He was released on June 30, 2016.
In protest against their administrative detention without charges or trial by the Israeli occupation authorities, about 600 Palestinian administrative detainees have been boycotting the Israeli Military Courts since January 1, 2022.
The boycott includes the initial hearings to uphold the administrative detention order, as well as appeal hearings and later sessions at the Supreme Court.
Under the banner, “Our decision is freedom … no to administrative detention,” administrative detainees said in a statement their move comes as a continuation of longstanding Palestinian efforts “to put an end to the unjust administrative detention practiced against our people by the occupation forces”.
They also noted that Israel’s use of the policy has expanded in recent years to include women, children and elderly people.
“Israeli military courts are an important aspect for the occupation in its system of oppression,” the detainees said, describing the courts as a “barbaric, racist tool that has consumed hundreds of years from the lives of our people under the banner of administrative detention, through nominal and fictitious courts – the results of which are predetermined by the military commander of the region”.
Since March 2002, the number of Palestinians in administrative detention has never fallen below 100.
According to the Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups, there are now 4,700 Palestinians held in Israeli occupation jails, including 32 women, 170 minors, and over 600 administrative detainees held without charge or trial.
