Prominent Palestinian Prisoner Dies in Israeli Jail after 87-Day Hunger Strike
Israeli Prison Services (IPS) announced in a statement that Adnan was found unresponsive in his cell in Nitzan jail in the central city of Ramle during the pre-dawn hours of Tuesday morning.
He was brought to the Shamir Medical Center outside Tel Aviv, but was declared dead at the hospital, the IPS said.
Earlier on Sunday, an Israeli court refused to release the Palestinian hunger striker despite his deteriorating health condition.
In press remarks to the Palestinian Information Center (PIC), Adnan’s wife Randa Mousa affirmed that an Israeli court rejected the appeal submitted to release her husband on bail.
The court set another session for May 10, she added.
She had warned that her husband’s health condition was very critical as a result of his prolonged hunger strike, which he started earlier this year.
Adnan was detained on February 5 and immediately went on a hunger strike in protest against his illegal detention.
He was suffering from severe health problems as a result of the strike, including frequent vomiting of blood, severe weakness, frequent loss of consciousness, difficulty in speaking, movement, sleep and concentration, and severe pain all over his body.
Over the past 20 years, Adnan had been arrested a dozen times by Israeli forces for his political and anti-occupation activities. He spent a total of eight years behind bars.
He went on hunger strike four times during his detentions, the longest of which was a 67-day period in 2012 that resulted in his release and inspired other Palestinian prisoners held under administrative detention to follow suit.
‘Zionist entity fully responsible’
In a statement on Tuesday morning, the Islamic Jihad movement mourned the demise of Adnan, describing him as a “a great leader, a brave man, and a courageous [resistance] fighter.”
“Sheikh Adnan embraced martyrdom as a result of a crime, for which the occupying Zionist entity bears full and direct responsibility. The Israeli regime, which arrested him, inflicted pain and suffering upon him, perpetrated the most heinous crimes against him, and employed illegitimate means, sham trials as well as terrorist acts in this regard, will pay a hefty price for this misdeed,” the statement read.
The movement added, “In our long march towards the liberation of al-Quds, we will lose many brave men, leaders and resistance fighters. Sheikh Khader Adnan was one of those individuals, who paved the way for all people seeking freedom in Palestinian lands and across the world.”
‘Cold-blooded execution’
Hamas resistance movement extended deep condolences over Adnan’s martyrdom, holding the criminal Israeli apartheid regime and the far-right administration led by prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu fully responsible for the “premeditated and cold-blooded” crime.
“The criminal and occupying Israeli regime will pay a heavy price for the crime of assassinating Sheikh Khader Adnan by refusing to release him and exercising deliberate medical negligence against him. The Zionist entity must be prosecuted for its crimes,” Hamas asserted.
The resistance movement noted that the crime adds to the long list of crimes that Israel has committed against heroic Palestinian prisoners and all walks of the Palestinian society.
Hamas also stressed that Palestinians will employ all available means and all forms of resistance to confront the Israeli regime’s crimes against prisoners and ordinary people.
‘Deliberate Assassination’
Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh also strongly denounced Israel for deliberately assassinating the prisoner.
“The Israeli occupation and its prison administration carried out a deliberate assassination against Adnan by rejecting his request for release, neglecting him medically, and keeping him in his cell despite the seriousness of his health condition,” Shtayyeh said in a statement, in response to the death of the senior Islamic Jihad leader, who had been on hunger strike for 86 days in protest against his detention without charge.
The Palestinian prime minister offered his deepest condolences to Adnan’s family, Palestinian prisoners, and all Palestinians.
The Palestinian foreign ministry also held the Israeli regime fully responsible for the incident and called for an international investigation into Adnan’s death.
It demanded an international investigation into the circumstances and details surrounding his death, emphasizing it will submit the file to the International Criminal Court.
