Israel extends detention of Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh

The Palestinian political prisoner, Khalil Awawdeh, made headlines around the world for his 172-day-long hunger strike while under Israeli detention.

Now, just days before his scheduled release, his detention has been extended by an Israeli court.

The announcement was made by Israel’s magistrate court in Rishon LeZion, near Tel Aviv on Wednesday, 28 September.

Awawdeh’s wife told Al Jazeera that his detention was extended until at least 9 October.

“We don’t know what will happen with this new case, whether it would be closed on bail, or whether he will be released, or put on trial for this new case,” his wife Dalal said.

The court justified his continued detention under the claim that Awawdeh attempted to take his mobile phone from the Assaf Harofeh hospital to the clinic of Ayalon Prison in Ramla, where he was transferred.

Describing the situation, his wife said that “this is an occupation and it’s not new to us that they are trying to ruin the joy and Khalil’s triumph, in that he seized his freedom from them.”

Khalil was arrested in December 2021 and placed under “administrative detention,” stripping him from the right to know on what grounds his arrest took place. It also allows the courts to extend his detention indefinitely.

Awawdeh ended his 172-day hunger strike on 31 August following an agreement that he would be released from detention on 2 October.

This is the second time Israeli courts have broken their promise to release him. Following his arrest in December, Khalil went on a 111-day hunger strike and continued a week later after Israel failed to comply with the promise to release him.

According to WAFA news agency, 4,450 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons, including 32 women and 160 minors, as well as 200 chronically ill prisoners.

Israel is the only country in the world that prosecutes children in military courts, robbing them of their fundamental legal rights.

According to the human rights group Addameer, the Israeli army has imprisoned over 12,000 Palestinian children since the year 2000.