Abu Hawash, arrested in October 2020, is in serious condition after 140 days of hunger strike after being imprisoned without trial
Doctors who treat Palestinian Hisham Abu Hawash, imprisoned in Israel for more than a year, have warned that his health is serious after 140 days of hunger strike in protest at his detention without trial or charge. Abu Hawash, who is now in Assaf Harofeh Hospital near Tel Aviv, has been under “administrative detention” since October 2020 – an arrest modality criticized by international NGOs because it does not require charges to be brought and its length is practically indefinite.
Islamic Jihad, considered by Israel to be a terrorist organization and to which Abu Hawash would be linked, has threatened to provoke an “explosion” of violence and to reactivate the armed conflict with the Israelis if he is not released immediately.
In recent days, images of Abu Hawash have begun to circulate on social networks, in which he appears extremely haggard. Although medical sources consulted by DPA indicate that his life is still not in danger, the Israeli NGO Doctors for Human Rights has indicated this Sunday that Abu Hawash, 40, “is in danger of imminent death” due to low levels potassium levels in the blood and the possibility of a cardiac arrhythmia.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry on Sunday urged the international community to pressure the Israeli government to release Abu Hawash, alluding to the fact that Israel is detaining, with an “unjust policy of administrative detention,” those detained “without charge or trial. ». In a statement, he stressed that Israel is fully responsible for “its deliberate disregard for their health” and highlighted the decision of the administrative detainees to boycott the Israeli military courts and the laws related to these “unjust” policies.
The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) said this Saturday that there is great concern for Abu Hawash’s health and has also demanded his release, according to the official Palestinian news agency Wafa. “Every effort should be made to find a solution that avoids irreversible consequences for health and a possible tragic loss of life,” the delegation of the organization in the area said in a statement on its official Twitter profile.
According to the ICRC, in his condition and after so many days on a hunger strike, “expert clinical monitoring is required.” Likewise, the lawyer for the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), Jawad Booulos, also warned that he is still at risk of sudden death, as other non-governmental organizations have already warned, according to Wafa.
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