Palestinian detainee reaches 137th day of hunger strike

This came after a delegation of the Health Ministry visited Abu Hawash in Assaf Harofeh Hospital.

According to the medical examination conducted by the delegation, Abu Hawash is suffering blurry vision and muscle atrophy. He further became unable to speak or to move and unaware of what is happening around him.

The delegation underlined that the last medical tests he underwent in the israeli hospital were on December 16.

The delegation further stressed the importance of moving Abu Hawash to a Palestinian hospital.

Abu Hawwash, 40, is from Dura village near al-Khalil, in the occupied West Bank. He is a former political prisoner, who served eight years in Israeli prison, 52 months of which were spent in administrative detention without charge.

A father of five, Abu Hawwash was arrested in October 2020 and faced a six-month administrative sentence, which was renewed. He launched a hunger strike in the summer against his arbitrary detention.

Administrative detentions, a highly controversial policy used by Israel almost exclusively against Palestinians, allow detention without charge or trial for renewable periods of three to six months, without the possibility of appeal or of knowing what accusations are being leveled against the detainee.

Many Palestinian prisoners have resorted to hunger strikes to protest against the policy. (ILKHA)