Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh decided to end his hunger strike, which lasted 172 days after the Zionist occupation regime decided to release him after a month, Palestinian media reported.
The Palestinian Captive Affairs Organization said in a statement that Awawdeh decided to end the hunger strike after reaching a written agreement to determine the time of ending his administrative detention and release on October 2, 2022.
The prisoners’ commission also confirmed that Awawdeh would remain in hospital until he “completely recovers”, adding that his condition requires “long-term care”.
The European Union says it is “shocked” to see pictures of the frail body of Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh, who has been on a continuous hunger strike for nearly six months in protest at his detention by the Zionist regime without trial or charge, calling for his release.
Calls are growing internationally for the release of the 40-year-old Awawdeh after his wife shared images of his extremely emaciated body on Sunday, a day after she visited his hospital room.
Doctors have warned that Awawdeh is at risk of imminent death, his body reached a frail stage after losing tens of kilograms, and his skeleton and chest bones have protruded.
The 40-year-old detainee, who is a father of four, is currently in an Israeli hospital over his deteriorating health condition.
In an audio message released by his family, Awawdeh said that his current situation is not a sign of Palestine’s weakness, but shows the true image of the occupying regime which claims to be a small democratic country.
But, he added, there is a prisoner who is held without any charge and is resisting his arbitrary administrative detention to say no to the practice.
Awawdeh also said that Palestine will be liberated even at a high cost.
The Palestinian resistance movement, the Islamic Jihad, demanded Awawdeh’s release as part of a ceasefire agreement on August 7 that ended Israel’s three-day aggression on the Gaza Strip.
Awawdeh was arrested in December 2021 and is among the nearly 670 Palestinian prisoners who are held in administrative detention which rights groups label as a kind of collective punishment and a violation of international law.
Over 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in some 17 Israeli jails, with dozens of them serving multiple life sentences.
Israeli authorities keep Palestinian prisoners under deplorable conditions lacking proper hygienic standards. They have also been subject to systematic torture, harassment, and repression all through the years of Israel’s occupation of the Palestinian territories.
According to the Palestine Detainees Studies Center, about 60% of the Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails suffer from chronic diseases, and a number of them have died in detention or after being released due to the severity of their cases.
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