Palestinian detainees end hunger strike after release agreement

Ramallah on September 1 : A Palestinian detainee has announced the end of his 172-day hunger strike following the Israeli prison authorities have agreed to terminate the administrative detention he was inKhalil Awawdeh, who is 40 was released from his hunger strike following negotiating an agreement with the Israeli authorities, which would result in his release on the 2nd of October, Hassan Abd Rabbo, the spokesperson of the Palestine Liberation Organizations Detainees and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority, told Xinhua news agency.

Awawdeh will stay in the Israeli hospital in which he was for weeks until he fully recovers, according to Rabbo.

The agreement was reached after several weeks of communications efforts by Egyptian mediators and the Palestinian Prisoners Club Association said in an announcement to Xinhua.Awawdehs release was a part of an agreement for a ceasefire which was brokered by Egypt between Israel and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad following three days of violent Israeli attack in the Gaza Strip in early August.

In a video that circulated online on Wednesday Awawdeh was seen in the hospital bed and he criticized his long administrative detention "unjust".He claimed that the agreement was one of the victories won by prisoners who participated in strikes throughout the years to protest against the administration of detention.

As per Israeli law administrative detention puts the person in question in detention free of charge for a period of four to six months, which can be renewed for an indefinite time.In the last few years, a number of Palestinian prisoners have succeeded in getting out of administrative detention through hunger strikes that lasted for more than 120 days.