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from Al Jazeera

A Palestinian official says a prisoner held by Israel has agreed to ease his hunger strike, and his life is no longer in danger.

Qadoura Fares, who heads a prisoners rights group, said Mahmoud Sarsak, 25, a former player with the Palestinian national football team, agreed to take milk on Monday after a more than 80 days of hunger strike.

The Gaza resident has been held without charge since 2009, and has demanded to be released.

Fares said Sarsak agreed to drink milk for the 72 hours it will take for Israel reviews the case.

Israel's prison service said Sarsak was no longer fasting.

Earlier in the day, Sivan Weizman, Israel Prison Services spokeswoman, said "[Mahmoud] Sarsak ended his hunger strike", adding that he had taken the decision to end his fast after consulting his lawyer and the prison administration.

Sarsak began refusing food in late March along with several other prisoners in a protest which in April was joined by more than 1,000 detainees demanding better conditions, including increased access to lawyers and visits from relatives in Gaza.

Administrative detention

Sarsak and others also sought an end to the practice of holding suspects in administrative detention, under which a military court can order an individual held without charge for renewable periods of six months.

Sarsak's family told Al Jazeera that he has lost 30kg since going on hunger strike, stating the claims Israel has made that he is part of the armed group Islamic Jihad are absurd.

Sarsak played football for Palestine's national team while still a teenager. He was arrested three years ago while travelling to the West Bank to play professional football.

The mass hunger strike ended on May 14, with a deal that saw Israel agree to ease prison conditions, but not end administrative detention.

Sarsak continued his hunger strike and his health has been deteriorating, with prison authorities transferring him briefly to a civilian hospital on Sunday night before returning him to the Ramle prison near Tel Aviv.






from Middle East Monitor

The Palestinian footballer Mahmoud al-Sarsak has reached his 88th day of continual hunger strike in protest at being held in an Israeli prison for the past three years without charge.

Al-Sarsak was a student in his third year of a computer programming course when he was arrested on July 22nd 2009 at the Beit Hanoun [Eretz] border crossing while on his way to the West Bank. He played football for the Rafah Services Club and the Palestinian national team.

Lawyers visiting al-Sarsak have confirmed that matters have developed and that his state of health is much more serious than was imagined previously. He has been made aware of these developments.

Israel's Prison Welfare Department and its intelligence apparatus have tried to exert pressure on al-Sarsak to end his hunger strike. They have given him verbal promises that he will be released on July 1st. Nevertheless, al-Sarsak is sticking to his demands for an official signed document outlining the pledge made by the Israeli authorities which will oblige them to release him on the proposed date.

The young man has refused an Israeli offer to exile him to Norway under the pretext of allowing him to go on a three month trip to seek medical attention after which he would be allowed to return. Instead, he has demanded to be released immediately and allowed to return to his home in the Gaza Strip.

As his condition worsened, Israel's Asaf Harofeh Medical Centre announced that al-Sarsak was dying and informed the Prison Welfare Department that the hospital would accept no responsibility for his death in what they said would be within hours.

Activists on the streets of Gaza are continuing their massive campaign in solidarity with al-Sarsak outside the headquarters of the Red Cross, as well as in the media, in an effort to put international pressure on the Israeli Occupation Authorities to force his immediate release.