Ramallah: A Palestinian detainee has announced an end to his 172-day hunger strike after the Israeli prisons authorities agreed to end his administrative detention.
Khalil Awawdeh, 40, ended his hunger strike after reaching an agreement with the Israeli authorities that would see his release on October 2, Hassan Abd Rabbo, spokesman of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s Detainees and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority, told Xinhua news agency.
Awawdeh will remain in the Israeli hospital, where he has been for weeks, until he fully recovers, said Rabbo.
The deal was reached after weeks of communication efforts by Egyptian mediators, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Club Association said in a statement to Xinhua.
Awawdeh’s release was part of a ceasefire agreement brokered by Egypt between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad following three days of deadly Israeli attacks in the Gaza Strip in early August.
In a video circulating online on Wednesday, Awawdeh appeared to be in the hospital bed, calling his prolonged administrative detention “unjust”.
He said the agreement was a part of the victories achieved by prisoners who fought in strikes over the years against the administrative detention.
According to Israeli law, administrative detention places the suspect in detention without charge for four to six months, renewable for an indefinite period.
During the past few years, several Palestinian prisoners succeeded in ending their administrative detention by going on hunger strikes for more than 120 days.
