Conflicts & War

Palestinian Khader Adnan dies in Israeli prison after 86-day hunger strike

Jerusalem, May 2 (EFE).- A prominent Palestinian prisoner, Khader Adnan, died on Tuesday morning in an Israeli jail after his health condition deteriorated following an 86-day hunger strike to protest his detention by Israel.

Adnan, 44, who had been accused of terrorism and incitement to violence as a member of Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) – designated as a terrorist organization by Israel, the US and the EU – died early morning at Nitzan Prison, the Israel Prison Service confirmed, adding that Adnan had refused to receive medical treatment.

The Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs of the Palestinian National Authority also confirmed Adnan’s death as a result of the hunger strike that he began on Feb. 5 shortly after his arrest.

The Palestinian foreign ministry said that the Israeli government bore “full and direct responsibility” for Adnan’s death for failing to release him despite the risk of death and said it would raise the issue of the “crime” with the International Criminal Court.

The nonprofit Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) warned on Monday, when Adnan’s hunger strike reached its 86th day, that he faced “imminent death” and should be “urgently transferred to a hospital” as he was “dangerously emaciated” and was struggling “to move and maintain a basic conversation.”

Adnan expressed his desire to be hospitalized and presented three conditions for undergoing medical treatment in the prison.

The first was to allow his family to visit him, the second that he be closely accompanied by a PHRI doctor and third, that his medical information not be shared with Israeli authorities, which did not happen.

An Israeli district court had recently rejected two petitions for his transfer to a hospital.

Adnan was arrested in the early hours of Feb. 5 at his residence in the Palestinian village of Araba near Jenin, one of the most troubled areas of the occupied West Bank in the last year and where Palestinian Islamic Jihad has a strong presence.

Arrested 12 times by Israel, Adnan spent more than eight years in prison and became a symbol of Palestinian resistance, having undertaken five hunger strikes.

A Palestinian Islamic Jihad spokesperson warned last week that Adnan’s death would be considered a “murder” by Israel and lead to “serious consequences.”

On Tuesday morning, three rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into Israel, landing in an uninhabited area, the Israeli army said.

No militia has claimed them so far.

Currently, almost 5,000 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails, of which more than 1,000 are in administrative detention, that is, without charge or trial.

More than 1 million Palestinians have been imprisoned since the start of the Israeli occupation in 1967, including over 15,000 women, according to information from the Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs. EFE

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