Khalil Awawdeh snatches freedom from Israeli prisons

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Agencies
15 Sep 2023 14:31
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After a six-month hunger strike and having spent 14 years in Israeli prisons, including eight years in administrative detention, the Israeli occupation unexpectedly informed the Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh of his release from 'Ofer' Prison.

Dalal, the wife of Khalil Awawdeh, a Palestinian prisoner in Israeli occupation prisons, displays his picture at the family house, in the West Bank town of Idna, west of al-Khalil, Wednesday, Aug. 17, 2022. (AP)

Israeli occupation forces unexpectedly informed 40-year-old Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh, from Al-Khalil, occupied West Bank, of their decision to release him from 'Ofer' Prison.

The Israeli occupation court sentenced 40-year-old Awawdeh to 16 months in prison for allegedly trying to smuggle a phone into prison in March.

In August 2022, Al Mayadeen correspondent in occupied Palestine reported that prisoner Khalil Awawdeh suspended his open hunger strike after 172 days, after reaching a written agreement to set a ceiling for his administrative detention and to be released on October 2.

Watch | Despite his struggle to even talk, the #Palestinian hunger-striking prisoner #KhalilAwawdeh draws a smile on his face while talking to his wife.
The prisoner has been going on a hunger strike for more than 160 days now.#FreeThemAll #FreeKhalil pic.twitter.com/fUbClINrTD
— Al Mayadeen English (@MayadeenEnglish) August 20, 2022

It is worth noting that the recent ceasefire agreement between "Israel" and the Islamic Jihad movement involved efforts to secure the release of prisoner Awawdeh through Egyptian mediation.

A long road to freedom

Khalil Awawdeh, a father of four girls, was arrested on December 27, 2021, and an administrative detention order was issued against him for a six-month period.

Awawdeh embarked on a hunger strike on March 3, 2022, to reject his administrative detention, which he suspended 111 days after the Israeli military prosecution pledged not to extend his administrative detention. However, days after he suspended his strike, a new administrative detention order was issued against him for four months, so he decided on July 2, 2022, to return to the strike until his demand was met.

The Muhjat Al-Quds Foundation announced on August 31 that Awawdeh suspended his open hunger strike after 172 days. A written agreement to set a ceiling for his administrative detention and to release him on October 2 was reached.

Awawdeh belongs to a family from the town of Idna, west of Al-Khalil, in the southern West Bank. He was unable to complete his university studies due to repeated arrests and detention in Israeli prisons, which amount to up to 12 years, including six years of administrative detention.