Israel releases former prisoner after hunger strike ends Israel-Palestine Conflict News

Palestinian Kayed Fasfous has been in an Israeli hospital since ending a 131-day hunger strike on November 23.

Israeli authorities have released a prominent Palestinian prisoner two weeks after reaching a 13-day hunger strike that ended his marathon hunger strike, a prisoner rights group said.

Kayed Fasfous, 32, has been in an Israeli hospital since the strike ended on November 23.

Israel’s “administrative detention” was a symbolic image of hunger strikers protesting against the controversial policy, allowing the suspects to be detained without charge once and for all.

Israel has said the policy is necessary to keep dangerous suspects locked up without disclosing sensitive information that could reveal valuable sources.

Palestinians and rights groups say the practice denies them the right to a proper trial, and allows Israel to hold prisoners for months or even years without seeing evidence against them. The law rarely applies to Israelis.

The Palestinian Prisoners Club, a group representing former and current prisoners, confirmed that Fasfous had returned home to the occupied West Bank on Sunday evening through a military checkpoint near the southern city of Hebron.

Images from the network later showed the former prisoner in a wheelchair celebrating his return to his southern Dura hometown.

Fasfous spent five years in Israeli jails without charge or trial, and lost about 45 kg (99 pounds) of weight on hunger strike, the Palestinian news agency Wafa reported.

The situation of six hunger strikers sparked demonstrations of solidarity in the Israeli-occupied West Bank and Gaza in November, escalating pressure on Israel to release detainees.

At least four of the five other hunger strikers have ended their protests after reaching similar agreements with Israeli authorities. It is expected to be released in the coming months.

Hunger strikes have been common among Palestinian prisoners and have helped secure numerous concessions from Israeli authorities.

The nature of these strikes has shifted from groups protesting without charge of arrest to groups demanding better cell conditions. About 500 of the 4,600 Palestinians detained by Israel are in administrative detention, according to a group of Addameer Palestinian prisoners’ rights activists.