Is­raeli court ex­tends Pales­tin­ian pris­on­er Awawda’s detention

An Israeli court on Wednesday evening extended the detention of Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawda for one week, under the pretext that he used a phone to communicate with his family, the Shehab News Agency reported.

Mohaja Al-Quds Foundation said that this decision came after the occupation claimed that it seized the phone in which the prisoner, Awawda, was communicating with his family during his transfer from “Asaf Harofeh” hospital to the Ramle clinic prison after his health condition improved.

The Palestinian Ministry of Prisoners and Freed Prisoners in Gaza said that the extension of Awawda’s detention “is a coup against the deal reached on his release based on which he suspended his hunger strike.”

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It also said: “This way, the Israeli occupation authorities backtrack from pledge they made last month to release the hunger striker on 2 October 2022.”

“This is a dangerous development that means the occupation will not release the hunger striker on the agreed upon date unless a new court ruling is issued,” it said, warning that the court will likely renew the extension.

On August 31, 40-year-old Khalil Awawda suspended his open hunger strike, which lasted for 172 days, after reaching a written agreement to set the administrative ceiling and release him on October 2, 2022.

The prisoner Khalil Awawda, from the town of Idna, west of Hebron, went on hunger strike for 172 days; rejecting his administrative detention, knowing that the occupation forces arrested him on December 27, 2021, and transferred him to administrative detention without charging him.

He is the latest among a number of Palestinian prisoners in administrative detention who have embarked on an individual hunger strike to secure their freedom since late last year.

Prisoners around the world have used hunger strikes as a means of nonviolent resistance. For Palestinian prisoners, it can draw international attention to their plight, which they hope will put pressure on their jailers and spur a change of policy.

Out of the approximately 4,550 Palestinian prisoners currently held by Israel, about 730 are currently being held in administrative detention, a number that has increased since March as Israel stepped up its raids in the occupied West Bank.

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