Palestine PM calls hunger-striker’s death in Israel custody ‘deliberate assassination’

Palestinian resistance groups and authorities have mourned the murder of Adnan at the Israeli jail after an 87-day hunger strike, holding Tel Aviv fully responsible for its crime.

“… by rejecting his request for his release, neglecting him medically and keeping him in his cell, despite the seriousness of his health condition,” the premier announced in a statement.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry also held the Israeli regime fully responsible for the incident and called for an international investigation into Adnan’s death.

It demanded an international investigation into the circumstances and details surrounding his death, emphasizing it will submit the file to the International Criminal Court.

The secretary general of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization has said he holds Israeli authorities “fully responsible” for Adnan’s death, blaming it on “negligence and forced detention”.

“My deepest condolences to his family, and we ask God to bless him with the martyrs and friends,” Hussein al-Sheikh posted on Twitter.

The Palestinian Authority’s Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs has also announced the suspension of its activities in protest against Adnan’s death.

“The legal team suspends its work today in front of the Israeli occupation courts in protest against the martyrdom of the prisoner Khader Adnan,” it said on its Facebook page.

Qadri Abu Bakr, head of the Commission for the Affairs of Prisoners and Ex-Detainees in Ramallah, stated that through Adnan’s death Israel wanted to “send a message” to Palestinian prisoners that their fate would be death if they started a hunger strike.

“We will present what happened to the International Criminal Court because it is a full-fledged crime,” he stated, adding, “Israel considers itself a state above the law. America and European countries ignore Israel’s crimes, and so Israel follows up on their crimes.”

Palestinians have staged a general strike in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday following the death of Adnan.

Adnan, 44, was repeatedly detained by Israeli forces and had staged several hunger strikes to protest his detention. In 2012, Adnan staged a 66-day hunger strike in protest of his detention, forcing the Israeli authorities to release him. He staged similar hunger strikes in 2015 and 2018.