– An Israeli occupation court has decided today to extend the detention of a senior member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) group in the occupied West Bank for another five days.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said the Salem military court has decided today to extend the detention of Khader Adnan until Monday.
Adnan, a former Palestinian prisoner, was arrested by Israeli forces during a military raid on February 5 on his family home in Arraba village, southwest of Jenin.
He has been on a hunger strike for the fourth day in a row as he entered the hunger strike from the first moment of his arrest in protest against Israel’s detention of him.
Adnan has been imprisoned at least 11 times since 2004 and was a spokesperson for Palestinian prisoners inside Israeli prisons.
He was last freed from an Israeli prison in 2021 after 25 days of detention.
Adnan, seen by many Palestinians as a symbol of resistance, went on hunger strike four times during detention, including one stretch that lasted 67 days.
On the day of his arrest, Israeli forces said seven Palestinians were arrested but did not name Adnan and did not specify the charges against them.
Adnan launched his first hunger strike, which lasted 25 days, in 2004 to protest being held in administrative detention, a controversial practice that allows Israeli occupation to detain Palestinians without charge for six-month periods. These detention periods can be renewed indefinitely and Palestinian detainees can spend years in prison without being charged.
Adnan’s 67-day hunger strike in 2012 inspired a wave of Palestinian prisoners held under administrative detention to join him.
Adnan’s Sunday arrest comes as tensions rise in the occupied West Bank following an uptick in Israeli violence against Palestinians since the beginning of the year.
42 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, including 9 children and an elderly woman, have been shot and killed by Israeli forces and colonial settlers since the start of the new year of 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
January has been the bloodiest month for Palestinians in the occupied West Bank since 2015 with 35 Palestinians killed during the month, including 8 children.
