The Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Administration on Tuesday night confirmed an agreement had been reached between Israel and security prisoner Hisham Abu Hawash for the latter to end his 141-day-long hunger strike. Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said Israel had agreed to the move after facing pressure from foreign countries on the matter.
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Shtayyeh confirmed a report in Palestinian newspaper Al Quds that the security prisoner would be released from administrative detention in February and not April, as previously decided. A spokesman for the military arm of Islamic Jihad, the al-Quds Brigades, declared the news a victory for the organization, which had threatened to treat Abu Hawash's potential death from starvation as an assassination and respond accordingly.
Earlier Tuesday, the Palestinian newspaper reported that Egypt had hoped to reach an interim deal that would see Abu Hawash freed on Feb. 26. According to that report, Cairo was concerned the security prisoner issue could result in another round of fighting in the Gaza Strip, a development that would hinder Egyptian attempts to facilitate a long-term armistice between Israel and Hamas.
In early December, the High Court of Justice rejected Abu Hawash's petition for release or a detention freeze due to his medical condition. The High Court ruling described how Abu Hawash, a resident of the Hebron area, posed a danger to the security of the region and had even served a previous prison sentence for security crimes. His petition was rejected because at least at the time, his condition was not life-threatening.
The ruling also emphasized that Abu Hawash had been arrested on Oct. 29, 2020 based on classified intelligence reports and interrogated by police on suspicion of membership in a hostile organization, regional security offenses, and planning to carry out an attack. Abu Hawash denied the allegations.
As the intelligence in question was classified, and Abu Hawash could not be tried, a decision was made to place him under administrative detention, which was periodically extended, until April 2022.
The Choose Life Forum of bereaved families and terrorist victims blasted the move, accusing Jerusalem of "once again" giving in to threats of an attack from Hamas and other terrorist supporters.
"The Israeli government is giving in with frightening cowardice and not for the first time. This is not how you fight terrorism. This is not how you create deterrence. A hunger-striking terrorist should be hospitalized in prison until they stop or die, without the media and without visits from all kinds of terrorist supporters," the group said in a statement.
Announcing he planned to visit the hospital in question, Religious Zionism Party MK said, "It's just incredible that the Shin Bet security agency and the Israeli government are giving in and folding to Hamas and Islamic Jihad prisoners. Terrorist elements have learned a system" in which they humiliate Israel, he said.
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