Khader Adnan may still be alive, had the Israeli authorities, specifically the Ministry of Health and Israeli Prison Service (IPS), ensured that he would be transferred to a hospital so that he would have been in a medical facility that had the necessary resources and equipment to handle his rapid deterioration. This failure to ensure his hospitalization — together with the refusal of two Israeli hospitals to admit him — is in violation of basic human rights and medical ethics.
Khader undertook his hunger strike — one of the few non-violent tools that remain for Palestinians — to oppose Israel’s long-term occupation and apartheid regime. He died in the IPS Medical Center, which Physicians for Human Rights Israel warned several times was unequipped for handling the type of rapid deterioration that results from long-term hunger strikes. While he was transferred to public hospitals several times, those refused to admit him, arguing that Mr. Adnan was refusing medical tests and monitoring. The Ministry of Health – which in 2017 had overturned previous guidelines to hospitalize individuals on hunger strike after 5 weeks – refused to intervene and instruct hospitals to admit him, leaving him to be sent back to the IPS. Had Mr. Adnan been in a hospital, he may have been resuscitated – a wish that he had previously expressed to Physicians for Human Rights Israel’s chairperson, Dr. Lina Qasem Hassan, who visited him prior on April 23rd.
Throughout this time, the requests of Mr. Adnan and his wife and children to visit him were repeatedly turned down by the IPS, which alleged that those undertaking a hunger strike must be punished, while the Court postponed any decision-making on the matter. Mr. Adnan and his wife and children were therefore denied the possibility of one last meeting.
Israel’s unjust system of arrests and detention are part and parcel of the policies used by Israel to maintain its occupation and apartheid regime. At this time, we call on the international community to ensure that Israel delivers Mr. Adnan’s body to his family, so that they may bury him. We further call on the Ministry of Health to change its regulations and issue clear guidelines to all hospitals and to the IPS to ensure that individuals on hunger strike are automatically hospitalized after 45 days of strike and thereby prevent further unnecessary deaths. Lastly, we strongly urge the international community to take concrete steps to guarantee the rights, health, and well-being of Palestinians, prevent further grave human rights violations, and unambiguously demand that Israel respect its international obligations.
Signatories:
Adalah – The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel
Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association
Al Mezan Center for Human Rights
Amnesty International Israel
Bimkom – Planners for Human Rights
Gisha – Legal Center for Freedom of Movement
HaMoked: Center for the Defence of the Individual
Ir Amim
Lawyers for Palestinian Human Rights
MEDACT – Health Workers for Health Justice
Medical Human Rights Network IFHHRO
Parents against Child Detention
Plateforme Palestine
Physicians for Human Rights Israel
The Public Committee against Torture in Israel (PCATI)
