News / Palestine

Health of Palestinian on hunger strike for 30 days deteriorating

Friday, 18 March 2016 2:51 AM [ Last Update: Friday, 18 March 2016 2:56 AM ]

This file photo shows Israeli soldiers standing guard outside Ketziot prison, located 72 kilometers (45 miles) southwest of Beersheba.

The health condition of a Palestinian prisoner, who has been on hunger strike for 30 days, is deteriorating, his brother says.

Palestinian Committee for Prisoners' Affairs announced on Thursday that 24-year-old Yazan Mahmoud Nasrallah Hanani, a resident of the town of Beit Furik, has stopped eating his food portions in protest against his administrative detention at Israel's Ketziot prison.

Yazan’s brother, Hanafi, expressed deep concern over his health condition, stressing that it is deteriorating day by day.

Yazan, who is being held in solitary confinement, was detained in late October 2015, when Israeli military forces stormed Beit Furik and ransacked a number of Palestinian houses there.

He was arrested on five different occasions, and sentenced to five years in prison when he was under the age of 18. His jail term was later commuted to two and a half years.

On February 26, jailed Palestinian journalist, Mohammed al-Qiq, put an end to his 94-day hunger strike that had exposed him to an immediate risk of death after his lawyers reached an agreement with Israeli authorities for his release on May 21.

Qiq had been on hunger strike since November 25, 2015, to protest his administrative detention, a policy under which Palestinian inmates are kept in Israeli detention facilities without trial or charge. Some Palestinian prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to eight, ten and eleven years.

The father of two, who used to work for Saudi Arabia's al-Majd TV network, has been accused by Israel's Shin Bet internal spy service of "terror activity" involving the Palestinian resistance movement, Hamas. He denied the charges and began the hunger strike after facing torture during interrogation.

There are reportedly more than 6,500 Palestinians held at Israeli jails. Hundreds of the inmates have been apparently incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention, which is a policy under which Palestinian inmates are kept in Israeli detention facilities without trial or charge.

The Palestinian inmates regularly go on hunger strike in protest at both the administrative detention policy and harsh prison conditions.

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