After 91 days on hunger strike, Palestinian prisoner’s health worsens

Arab-Israelis and Israeli left-wing activists hold placards during a demonstration calling for the release of Palestinian administrative detainees including Miqdad al-Qawasmeh on October 16, 2021 [AHMAD GHARABLI/AFP via Getty Images]

The health of Palestinian prisoner Miqdad Qawasmeh deteriorated greatly yesterday as he entered his 91st day on hunger strike, the Prisoners’ Media Office said.

The 24-year-old from the occupied West Bank city of Hebron has been on hunger strike in protest against his administrative detention, confinement without charge, or trial.

Qawasmeh’s life is now in danger, the Prisoners’ Media Office said, and he has been in intensive care at Israel’s Kaplan Medical Center for 20 days.

Occupation authorities have not set a date for his release but have frozen his administrative detention in an effort to distance themselves from responsibility for the deterioration of his health, the Prisoners’ Media Office explained.

The Israeli administration of Ashkelon jail on Monday transferred prisoner Naser Abu Hameed to Israel’s Barzilai Hospital after his health regressed. In August Abu Hameed was found to have been suffering from a lung tumor for which he has not received medical treatment.

READ: Palestine calls for protection of prisoners in Israel

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