Israeli court to rule on Khalil Awawdeh appeal

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The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs warned on Sunday of the possibility that hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh could die surprisingly on his 155th day of hunger strike as his health condition deteriorates drastically.

"Prisoner Awawdeh's health condition is getting worse day by day," commission spokesperson Hassan Abed Rabbo said. "He has lost more than half of his body weight, and he feels incredibly weak. His vision is impaired so much so that he could not recognize his wife Dalal Awawdeh as she was visiting him at the Assaf Harofeh hospital."

"He is suffering from severe joint pain, headaches, and dizziness. He is unable to walk and uses a wheelchair to move," Abed Rabbo added.

"An Israeli occupation court is set to hold a session to look into [Awawdeh's] appeal; this session was postponed from last week for today after a medical report showed the critical health condition he is in."

The court session can culminate in one of three ways, "The first is that the Israeli occupation upholds [Awawdeh's] administrative detention; the second is that the Israeli occupation suspends his administrative detention, a legal trick that allows him to stay at the hospital for treatment until his health condition ameliorates then resuming his administrative detention; and the third is ending his administrative detention," Abed Rabbo explained.

Lawyer Ahlam Haddad, defending Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh who has been on hunger strike for about 160 days, confirmed in an interview for Al Mayadeen on Friday that she was "shocked" when she saw him.

Haddad said, "I was shocked when I saw prisoner Awawdeh because of his extreme weakness," explaining that he "is suffering from severe weight loss, is unable to speak, and does not remember his family members."

Haddad told Al Mayadeen that she asked for a new session to take place for the Israeli occupation to look into his appeal or for a court to take a decision based on the medical report on Awawdeh that she gave the judiciary on Monday, but both the judge and the prosecution refused to comply.

"The judge decided to give the prosecution a deadline to respond or submit a new report from its side until Sunday, and the judge will give his decision on Monday," she added.

Human rights organizations have also confirmed that the prisoner Awawdeh "is at risk of martyrdom at any moment, in light of the occupation's refusal to respond to his demands to end his arbitrary administrative detention, despite the seriousness of his health condition."

On Wednesday, an Israeli occupation court held an unplanned court session for Awawdeh due to his deteriorating health condition. He was still in the "Ramleh" prison clinic, however, without being transferred to a hospital.

The freedom of Awawdeh was one of the clauses of the Egyptian-mediated ceasefire between Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and the Israeli occupation, which took place earlier this week after several days of Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, killing dozens of Palestinian civilians and wounding hundreds of others.

The head of the political department in the Islamic Jihad Movement, Muhammad Al-Hindi, said on August 7 that "a formula for the Egyptian declaration of the truce agreement has been reached, and it includes Egypt's commitment to work for the release of the two prisoners, Khalil Awawdeh and Bassam Al-Saadi."