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BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Soccer player Mahmoud al-Sarsak entered his 89th day of hunger strike in an Israeli jail on Friday as his father continued to demand the right to visit his son.

Al-Sarsak's brother Emad told Ma'an that Israeli judges were scheduled to meet Thursday to consider whether to grant al-Sarsak's father permission to visit him in jail.

The family does not know the outcome of the review but hopes Israel will issue a decision in the coming days. They have not been able to reach al-Sarsak's lawyer, Emad said. He could not be reached by Ma'an on Friday.

"I want to see my son alive before I die," al-Sarsak's father told Agence-France Presse on Wednesday.

The family has not been allowed to visit al-Sarsak since he was arrested in July 2009.

The prisoner rights group Addameer has unsuccessfully requested permission for its lawyers to visit the hunger striker.

His lawyer Mohammad Jabarein told Ma'an on Tuesday that he was called to visit al-Sarsak urgently on Sunday, when he was briefly hospitalized, because Israeli officials feared he was close to death.

Palestinian Prisoners Society lawyer Jawad Boulus, who has visited al-Sarsak recently, could not be reached by Ma'an.

Al-Sarsak has been detained for nearly three years without charge or trial and is demanding his release.

His mother told the Institute for Middle East Understanding that the family is so worried they cannot sleep.

"Can you imagine when you're told your son is in Ramle prison, ill, he's in hospital and you can't reach him, or visit him, or see him? He's on hunger strike until now because he was wronged.

"His dream was to go and play in Balata sports club and in West Bank sports clubs and to be excellent and become a star. He was the youngest player in the club, yet the best.

"We don't sleep at night because we're thinking. We say we'll hear bad news, or we'll hear good news. We are watching TV all day long, waiting all day long."

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Amnesty: Release or hospitalize hunger striker Mahmoud al-Sarsak

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an)-- A Palestinian soccer player on hunger strike for three months should be admitted to hospital or released, Amnesty International said Thursday.

Mahmoud al-Sarsak was detained in 2009 and is being held under a form of detention that allows Israel to jail "unlawful combatants" without charge and based on secret evidence.

“After almost three years in detention, the Israeli authorities have had ample opportunity to charge al-Sarsak with a recognizable criminal offence and bring him to trial,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East director.

“They have failed to do so, and instead repeatedly affirmed his detention order on the basis of secret information withheld from him and his lawyer.”

The detainee, a member of the Palestinian national soccer team, has refused food since March 19 in protest of his continued detention without charge or trial. Al-Sarsak began taking milk this week in order to prolong his life until a hearing could be held on his continued detention, his lawyer told Ma'an.

His case was to be reviewed by an Israeli court on Thursday, but the outcome of the judicial review was not immediately clear. Israeli authorities made no announcements and calls to al-Sarsak's lawyer went unanswered all day. The prisoners rights group Addameer said it did not know of any developments.

Amnesty International and other groups say the detainee has been denied proper access to medical treatment repeatedly during his 88-day hunger strike. For someone on the verge of death, this amounts to inhuman and degrading treatment in violation of Israel’s international obligations, the group maintains.

“The specialized medical care al-Sarsak urgently needs is only available in a civilian hospital and he must be admitted to one or released so that he can receive it,” Luther said. ”Israel should repeal the Internment of Unlawful Combatants Law, which lacks minimal safeguards for detainees’ rights.”

According to the UK-based group, al-Sarsak's family in Gaza, who have not seen their son since his arrest or spoken to him since he went on hunger strike, fear he will die in detention.

They urged the international community to intervene to save his life.