Bethlehem/PNN / 

Palestinian detainee in Israel, Khader Adnan, 44, is facing a risk of death after 71 days on hunger strike in protest of his detention, today said the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).

This is the longest time in the six hunger strikes Adnan has observed during his incarceration, it said.

Adnan is currently held in the infamous Ramla Prison Clinic, although he is in dire need of hospitalization, warned the PPS, which said Israel's refusal to move him to a hospital aims at causing him chronic diseases that are difficult to treat later.

Adnan, from the town of Arraba, in the northern West Bank district of Jenin, was detained on February 5 and immediately went on hunger strike in protest against his illegal detention, the sixth and so far the longest among his strikes during his presence in jail.

He is already suffering from very serious health symptoms as a result of the strike, including frequent vomiting of blood, severe weakness and emaciation, frequent loss of consciousness, difficulty in speaking, movement, and sleep, difficulty in concentrating and severe pain all over his body.  

Adnan was arrested 12 times by the Israeli occupation authorities over the past 20 years for his political and anti-occupation activities and has spent a total of eight years behind bars.

He went on hunger strike four times during detention, the longest was a 67-day stretch in 2012 that ended with securing his release and inspired other Palestinian prisoners held under administrative detention to go on hunger strike to win their freedom.

In 2015, he again went on strike against his detention for 56 days and again in 2018 for 58 days. In 2021, he was once again arrested and ordered to administrative detention, and he went on hunger strike for 25 days. In each of these occasions, he was able to obtain his freedom.