RAMALLAH, A Palestinian administrative detainee in Israel has been on 41 days of hunger strike demanding his freedom, today said the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS).

It said Khalil Awawdeh, 40, from the town of Idna, in the southern West Bank Hebron district, has been on hunger strike for 41 days in protest against his prolonged administrative detention without charge or trial.

He is reported to be suffering from headaches, fatigue, pain in the joints, and has lost 16 kilograms of his weight since he started the hunger strike. He was recently transferred from Ofer prison, near Ramallah where he has been held, to Ramla prison clinic.

Awawdeh is one of 60 Palestinian freedom fighters incarcerated in Israel who went on hunger strike since last year to win their freedom, most of them were held in administrative detention, said the PPS.

There are currently 530 Palestinian administrative detainees in Israeli jails.

The administrative detainees have been boycotting Israeli courts for the 102nd day in a row in protest against the courts’ unjust blind support for the military’s administrative detention orders.

The international human rights organization, Amnesty International, has described Israel’s administrative detention policy as a “cruel, unjust practice which helps maintain Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians.” It called on Israel to end it.

Source: Palestine News & Info Agency