Force-feeding is a violation of international law, says British doctor

The force-feeding of prisoners on hunger strike is a violation of international law, British Doctor Chris Cox said on Sunday. Cox made his comments during a visit to the tent set up in Tuqu, east of Bethlehem, for those gathering to show solidarity with the 1,600 hunger-strikers in Israeli prisons, the official Palestinian news agency WAFA has reported.

“No physician is allowed to force-feed a hunger striker,” he insisted, “and no prisoner should be pressured or fed against his will because this would put him at risk.” He suggested that Israeli practices against Palestinian prisoners are “certainly” a form of “torture.”

Dr Cox hailed the Palestinians on hunger strike. They are starving, he said, to achieve “justice” represented by an improvement in the conditions of their detention.

Read: UK students to begin hunger strike in solidarity with Palestinian prisoners

The British doctor has visited the besieged Gaza Strip on six occasions, where he has helped to train Palestinian students in the Faculty of Medicine at the Islamic University of Gaza.