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Khader Adnan, a Palestinian prisoner who had been on hunger strike in an Israeli prison for 87 days to protest his detention, died early Tuesday, according to Palestinian and Israeli lawyers and officials.
Mr. Adnan, 44, who helped practice individual hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners, held a 66-day strike in 2011 that inspired others to use it as a means of protesting Israel’s detention of Palestinians, especially administrative detention.
This time, Mr. Adnan has been on hunger strike since he was arrested on February 5. In recent days, Israeli doctors have warned that his death is “imminent” and asked him to be transferred to a hospital.
Israel has accused Mr. Adnan of being affiliated with Islamic Jihad, an armed Palestinian resistance group, and arrested him on suspicion of being a member of a terrorist organization, supporting terrorism and sedition.
The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said Israel bears full responsibility for his death, called for an international investigation and said it would refer the matter to the International Criminal Court.
“The Israeli occupation and prison administration committed deliberate murder against prisoner Khader Adnan by refusing his request for release, ignoring his medical needs and keeping him in a cell despite his serious health condition,” Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad said. Shtayyeh, said in a statement.
Israeli prison authorities denied that they had neglected Mr. Adnan and said he had refused medical treatment.
“He decided to go on hunger strike and he refused a medical examination and medical treatment,” said Hana Herbst, a spokeswoman for the Israel Prison Service. “We can’t do anything other than force him to get medical treatment, which we can’t do.”
Mr. Adnan, who lives in the city of Arraba in the Israeli-occupied West Bank, has been imprisoned by Israel several times, often in administrative detention, a practice Israel uses to indefinitely detain people without charges or trials, based on secret evidence. He is a father of nine, according to Palestinian state media.
Dr. Lina Qasem-Hassan, a family medicine specialist and chair of Doctors for Human Rights Israel, visited Mr. Adnan on April 23 and said he was struggling to move and maintain basic conversations. His body has atrophied and he is very dangerous, weighing less than 125 kilograms, according to his assessment, the group said in its statement.
Dr. Qasem-Hassan has warned that the situation will worsen.
Mr. Adnan was detained at the Israeli Prison Service’s medical center and was found unconscious in his cell on Tuesday, according to prison authorities. He was given cardiopulmonary resuscitation and later transferred to a hospital, where he died.
Following the news of his death, the Israeli military reported that three rockets were fired from the Gaza Strip into southern Israel, where they landed in an open area. No direct liability claims.
Palestinian armed resistance groups like Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad, the main groups in the Israeli-besieged Gaza Strip, regularly threaten to attack Israel if starving Palestinian prisoners die.
In January 2022, a 141-day hunger strike by Hisham Abu Hawash, who was held in administrative detention, almost led to a conflict between Israel and Palestinian armed groups.
Israel has accused Mr. Abu Hawash of involvement in plans to attack Israel but has not charged or put him on trial. Mr. Abu Hawash finally ended his attack after Israel agreed to release him.
After Mr. Adnan’s death on Tuesday, Hamas said Israel’s crimes against Palestinians “will not go unnoticed.”
Ms. Herbst said that Mr. Adnan had been taken to the hospital several times, but each time he refused medical treatment and was transferred back to the Israeli prison medical center.
Mr. Adnan said he wanted to be hospitalized and gave three conditions for a medical examination, including allowing his family to visit him, being accompanied by a doctor from a human rights group and that his medical information would not be shared with Israeli prisons. services, according to Physicians for Human Rights Israel.
“According to the principles of medical ethics, Adnan’s request is reasonable,” Anat Litvin, director of the group’s detention and detention department, said in a statement on Monday. “There is no reason to reject him other than the desire to punish him and stop his attacks. This is a clear power struggle between the security authorities and the hunger strikers.
In an interview with The New York Times last year, Mr. Adnan described hunger strikes as an important weapon in the fight against the Israeli occupation. They resorted to hunger strike tactics to maintain pressure on the Israeli authorities, including refusing to take food or vitamin supplements and refusing medical examinations.
“This is a weapon for our people,” he said. “And we must maintain the quality of these weapons.”
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