Despite deteriorated health condition, Islamic Jihad prisoner Khalil Awawdeh is determined to go ahead with hunger strike in protest against prolonged administrative detention without charge or trial by the Israeli occupation authorities.
Father of Awawdeh said on Saturday that the wife of his son was allowed to visit him in the Asaf Harofeh hospital, warning against Israeli attempt to press Awawdeh to suspend his hunger strike.
Khalil Awawdeh, 40, has been on hunger strike for 153 days. On Tuesday, he was transferred to the hospital, and he is currently suffering from severe joint pains, headaches, severe dizziness and a blurred vision.
Later on Thursday, the Israeli military court of Ofer allowed his lawyer and a physician to visit him for the first time in order to prepare a medical report about his health condition and submit it before the court next Sunday to look into his release.
The release of Awawdeh was one of the conditions of the Egyptian-mediated ceasefire between Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Israeli occupation, which took place earlier this week after three days of Israeli aggression which killed nearly 50 Palestinians and injured hundreds others.
Israeli occupation military launched on Friday, August 5 a brutal aggression on the Gaza Strip. Consequently, Al-Quds Brigades, the military wing of the Islamic Jihad launched an operation, dubbed ‘Unity of Battlefields’ by launching salvoes of rockets toward the occupied Palestinian territories.
The ceasefire took into effect late Sunday (August 7), after Egypt vowed Awawdeh, along with other Islamic Jihad official in West Bank Sheikh Bassam Al-Saad, would be released.
However, shortly after the ceasefire took into effect, Israeli officials said Awwdeh and Al-Saadi won’t be released.
The Islamic Jihad, in response, warned that fighting in Gaza will renew if the Israeli occupation doesn’t release the two members.
Source: Al-Manar English Website
