Blind Palestinian prisoner suspends 12-day hunger strike after Israel agrees to free him

A blind Palestinian prisoner has suspended a 12-day hunger strike on Thursday after Israel agreed to release him later this year.

Izz Al-Din Amarneh, a 52-year-old father of five, was striking over his jailing without charge under Israel's controversial policy of administrative detention, the official Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

It comes after prominent Palestinian detainee Khader Adnan, 45, passed away on Tuesday after being on a hunger strike since 5 February.

Israel said it would free Amarneh in October, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group.

Amarneh, who was imprisoned by Israel previously, had been detained since February 2022 and two of his children are in Israeli jail too.

Human rights groups criticised Israel's use of administrative detention, under which Palestinians and occasionally others are held without charge for renewable periods of up to six months.

Amnesty International's Middle East regional director Heba Morayef on Wednesday reiterated the demands of late hunger striker Adnan for an end to the practice.

"Israel's military courts and the practice of administrative detention invert the basic tenets of justice, automatically treating Palestinians as suspects simply because of their race, and help to maintain Israel's cruel apartheid system," she said.

Adnan was the first Palestinian detainee to die on hunger strike since 1992, according to Morayef.

"When his life was at risk, Israeli authorities refused Khader Adnan access to the specialised care he needed in a civilian hospital and instead left him to die alone in his cell," Morayef said.

"The appalling treatment of such a high-profile detainee is the latest alarming sign that Israeli authorities are growing increasingly brazen in their contempt for Palestinians' rights and lives, and increasingly reckless in their cruelty towards Palestinians."

His death in custody is a "reminder of the deadly cost" for Palestinians who "challenge Israeli apartheid", Amnesty said.