Palestinian prisoner enters 88th day of hunger strike amid worsening health

The prisoner, held by Israel under administrative detention, has seen his health condition worsen.

2 min read

17 October, 2021

Al-Qawasmeh's health is deteriorating as his hunger strike continues and his mother pleads for his freedom from his hospital bed [Getty]

Palestinian prisoner Miqdad Al-Qawasmeh, has entered the 88th consecutive day of his hunger strike in protest against his administrative detention in an Israeli prison, as his health continues to deteriorate and his mother pleas for his freedom.

The 24-year-old prisoner, who was detained in January 2021, was transferred to the Israeli Kaplan Medical Centre in September, where he continues to embark on a water-only diet, his mother Iman Badr told Al-Jazeera in a live broadcast on Saturday.

Al-Qawasmeh is now among over 400 Palestinian prisoners taking part in hunger strikes to protest punitive measures imposed by Israel after the Gilboa prison break in September.

"[Al-Qawasmeh's] body will not wait long unless the free people intervene to save him, he defends his right to the end... and wants to be freed from this unjust administrative detention," Badr said, as she sat next to her son in his hospital room.

"Please do everything to save my son's life," she also pleaded in a video posted on twitter by The Arab Organisation for Human Rights.

A distress call from the mother of the Palestinian prisoner on hunger strike Miqdad Al-Qawasmi#PalestinianPrisoners #FreeThemAll #FreePalestine #Act4PalestinianPrisoners pic.twitter.com/uquK3Zvfv8
— Arab Organisation (@AohrUk) October 17, 2021

Israel's high court froze the administrative order for the detention of Al-Qawasmi on October 6th, but this simply freezes the order for the period of his treatment and does not release him from his detention, according to Quds News Network.

The International Red Cross expressed their "grave concern" about Qawasmeh's deteriorating health earlier this month, and the "potentially irreversible consequences of such prolonged hunger strikes".

Since the Gilboa prison break in early September, when six Palestinian prisoners escaped from a high-security jail, Israeli authorities have carried out a crackdown on inmates, separating and transferring hundreds within the Israeli prison system.

More Palestinian prisoners may participate in hunger strikes as part of a "resistance programme" if their demands are not met and the sanctions imposed on them, which rights group say amount to collective punishment, are not lifted, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a statement carried by Quds Press.