International and Palestinian organizations were concerned on Sunday about the fate of a Palestinian detainee imprisoned in Israel and now "
in critical condition
" after more than four months of hunger strike.
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Hicham Abu Hawash, a 40-year-old member of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad armed group suspected by Israel of being linked to attacks on the Hebrew state, began his hunger strike in August to protest the his detention without charge or trial.
This father of five from Dura, in the occupied West Bank, is subject to administrative detention, a measure allowing the Israeli authorities to detain a person without charge for a renewable period of six months.
A "very dangerous situation"
The medical teams who visited him found him in "
critical condition
", the International Committee of the Red Cross (IARC) said on Saturday evening, which said it was "
concerned about the irreversible consequences for his health and possible tragic death
”.
"
He is in a difficult and complex condition,
" Liad Aviel, spokesperson for the Shamir medical center in central Israel, where Hisham Abu Hawash is currently hospitalized under surveillance by Israeli forces, told AFP.
“
His situation is very dangerous (...) he can no longer speak at all and is no longer aware of what is happening around him.
Even if he ends his strike, he will have serious health problems
, ”his wife, Aïsha Hrebat, told AFP on Sunday.
She added that the family's lawyers should ask the Israeli Supreme Court to lift his detention.
"A red line"
Palestinian Minister of Civil Affairs Hussein al-Sheikh, who also attended a meeting last week between Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, also called for the “
immediate
”
release
of Hisham Abou. Hawash, as did protesters gathered this weekend in Ramallah, in the occupied West Bank.
Read alsoFive Palestinians killed in clashes with the Israeli army in the West Bank
Israel "
must understand that the issue of prisoners is a red line (...) and must take full responsibility for the life of Abu Hawash,
" Ismail Radwan said at a protest in the Gaza Strip on Sunday. a cadre of Hamas, the Islamist Hamas movement in power in this Palestinian enclave.
Islamic Jihad, the second armed Islamist group in the Palestinian Territories after Hamas, had threatened the Jewish state with reprisals in the event of the death of this prisoner.
