RAMALLAH, Friday, October 22, 2021 (WAFA) - Miqdad al-Qawasmi, 24, a Palestinian held without charge or trial by Israeli authorities is in “extremely dangerous” condition more than three months into a hunger strike to protest his detention, the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) has said.

Al-Qawasmi is the least healthy of six incarcerated Palestinian hunger strikers who are demanding their release from so-called administrative detention, according to Amani Sarahneh, a spokeswoman for the PPS.

Al-Qawasmi has been in Israel’s Kaplan Hospital for about a month and was transferred to intensive care on Tuesday, where he continues to refuse food but is drinking water. An Israeli health official has described his condition as “difficult” and said the hospital was unable to provide further details because of privacy laws. 

At least four of the other six hunger strikers are hospitalized due to deteriorating health conditions, according to the PPS. The group says Israeli authorities have given no indication they will concede to the prisoners’ demands.

Human rights groups say administrative detention denies Palestinians due process, and on the basis of a secret file which even the detainee's lawyer is not allowed to view.

Hunger striking is a common form of protest among Palestinian prisoners and has helped secure concessions from Israeli authorities over the years.

The Israeli occupation is imprisoning some 4,650 Palestinian political prisoners for their resistance of the Israeli occupation of their homeland. Tensions in the prisons have remained high since a dramatic breakout last month in which six Palestinian freedom fighters tunneled out of Gilboa Prison. The six have been recaptured.

M.N