The Israeli Prison Service rejected today a petition submitted by the attorneys of Palestinian detainees Khalil Awawdeh and Raed Rayyan demanding their clients’ immediate transfer to hospital after 95 and 60 respectively on hunger strike, according to the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS).

Awawdeh, 40, from the town of Idna in the southern West Bank Hebron district, has been on hunger strike for 95 days in protest of his prolonged administrative detention without charge or trial.

He is reported to be suffering from headaches, fatigue, blurred vision, pain in the joints, irregular heartbeats, frequent vomiting and significant loss of weight.

Rayyan, 27, from Beit Duqqu village, northwest of Jerusalem, is also on hunger strike in protest of his detention without charge or trial. He is also said to be suffering from serious health complications due to his long fast.

Israel’s widely condemned policy of administrative detention allows the detention of Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable intervals usually ranging between three and six months based on undisclosed evidence that even a detainee’s lawyer is barred from viewing.

Currently, Israel is holding over 500 Palestinians in administrative detention, deemed illegal by international law, most of them former prisoners who spent years in prison for their resistance of the Israeli occupation.

Amnesty International, has described Israel’s administrative detention policy as a “cruel, unjust practice which helps maintain Israel’s system of apartheid against Palestinians.”

SOURCE: PALESTINE NEWS & INFORMATION AGENCY