Palestinian prisoner Khader Adnan died in an Israeli prison earlier on Tuesday after 87 days of hunger strike in protest against his detention by Israeli occupation.
Adnan “refused to undergo medical tests and receive medical treatment,” and he “was found unconscious in the cell” in the early morning on Tuesday, the Israeli prison service said.
Adnan started his hunger strike since he was arrested by Israeli forces on February 5.
Adnan, a 44-year-old resident of the town of Arraba near Jenin and a father of 9, had refused to eat for 87 days to protest against his detention by ‘Israel’ without charge.
His health had been in decline over the past few weeks, with his family sounding the alarm that Adnan was dying. Despite his deteriorating health, an Israeli military court delayed handing down decisions regarding Adnan’s request for release several times.
Repeated requests to transfer Adnan to a hospital due to his declining health were also refused, and he remained hospitalized in the prison clinic in Ramla which lacks specialists and adequate medical supplies.
Adnan has become a symbol of resistance among Palestinians after having been arrested by ‘Israel’ 12 times and spending a total of 8 years behind bars, and going on hunger strike 5 times.
In 2018, his hunger strike lasted almost 60 days, until he was released from jail after finally receiving a one-year sentence. In 2015, Adnan’s 54-day hunger strike, which brought him to the brink of death, also ended with a deal for his release. In 2012, Adnan went on hunger strike for 66 days, again agreeing to end his protest in exchange for his release from jail.
Adnan’s hunger strikes were in the past against his administrative detention, a common method used by ‘Israel’ to hold Palestinians without charge or trial. This year’s arrest is not administrative, but rather comes after an indictment.
Adnan is considered a prominent Islamic Jihad leader in the occupied West Bank. He is active in his support of Palestinian prisoners and regularly participates in events held to support them.
According to his attorney, Adnan was indicted for his membership in the Islamic Jihad group and the second charge is incitement, based on intelligence by Israel’s cyber unit from Adnan’s speeches published in the media.
The Palestinian prisoner’s Society (PPS) said lately that Adnan had reached a dangerous stage and that he was facing “imminent death.”
The group further called on the international community and human rights groups, “to intervene to save Adnan’s life before it is too late.”
Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups and resistance factions slammed Israel’s “deliberate execution” of Adnan
“Khader Adnan has been executed in cold blood,” the WAED Prisoners Association in Gaza told the Reuters news agency upon hearing of Adnan’s death.
“This is a very dangerous thing that has happened,” said Mustafa Barghouti, the former Palestinian information minister and general secretary of the Palestinian National Initiative political party.
The Israeli government and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir “are personally responsible for this act of assassination”, Barghouti told Al Jazeera.
“I call it an act of assassination because the Israeli government knew very well, and its military courts, that a person who is on hunger strike for 87 days, who had not received any kind of medical care, could die at any moment. And that’s exactly what has happened,” Barghouti said.
The factions have vowed to respond and have called for a general strike and protests in the Gaza Strip.
“Our fight is continuing and the enemy will realize once again that its crimes will not pass without a response. Resistance will continue by all might and determination,” Palestinian Islamic Jihad said in a statement.
Amin Shoman, head of the Palestinian Authority’s Supreme Commission for Prisoners and Ex-Detainees Affairs, said Adnan’s death is the consequence of deliberate policy against Palestinian detainees by the Israeli prison authorities.
“This is a new crime committed by Israel inside its prisons, and it deliberately continues its policy of medical negligence against thousands of prisoners, not responding to their just and humane demands, and turning its back on all international norms and laws,” he told Middle East Eye.
Shoman blamed Israel’s far-right government, which has implemented a series of harsh measures targeting Palestinian prisoners, for Adnan’s death.
