Health of '48 Palestinian imam deteriorates amid hunger strike protesting 'unfair' detention by Israel

The health of a Palestinian prisoner from within Israel's 1948 boundaries quickly deteriorated hours after he began his hunger strike to protest his unfair detention, a prisoner rights group has said.

Yousef Al-Baz, the imam of the Grand Mosque in the city of Lod, was arrested by Israeli authorities on 30 April without charge or trial.

An Israeli court ordered his release, but the intelligence and security forces have refused to cooperate and have kept him in prison, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said Friday.

The 64-year-old, a father of six, began his hunger strike on Thursday and has escalated his protest by refusing to drink water.

The prisoner advocacy group said al-Baz' health has deteriorated quickly since he began refusing to drink water, and that there are fears his condition will only worsen if he persists with the strike.

Dozens of Palestinian activists in the city of Lod held a vigil calling for the release of Al-Baz on Friday and his mosque ran a special sermon calling for his release.

Palestinians of the 1948 territories make up 20 percent of the Israeli population and face systematic discrimination. Amnesty International has described Israel's treatment of Palestinians both within its 1948 boundaries and in the West Bank and Gaza as "apartheid".

Large segments of the Israeli public see Palestinian citizens as a demographic threat to the Jewish majority, with discrimination entrenched across housing, public services, education and employment.