NGO: 40 Palestine prisoners in Israel’s jails start hunger strike

Middle East Monitor  /  July 23, 2022

At least 40 Palestinian prisoners from the Islamic Jihad in Israeli prisons have started an open-ended hunger strike, Al-Quds Association announced on Friday.

The prisoners started their hunger strike on Thursday in solidarity with hunger striker Khalil Awawdeh, who had been on hunger strike for 20 days.

On Wednesday, the military court in the Israeli Ofer Prison renewed Awawdeh’s administrative detention for four months, prompting his fellow prisoners to start their hunger strike the next day.

Awawdeh, 40, from the West Bank city of Hebron, was detained on 27 December, 2021, and was put under administrative detention.

He went on hunger strike and suspended it after 111 days after he was promised to be released by the Israeli occupation authorities.

The hunger striker, who is married and the father of four young children, is being incarcerated in an Israeli hospital due to his deteriorating health resulting from the severe repercussions of the hunger strike.