Allan’s hunger strike, which began June 18, had captured the attention of both the Israeli and Palestinian public, while putting the Jewish state under increasing pressure as the 31-year-old’s health worsened.
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Doctors said results of the MRI were inconclusive.
For example, in response to the legal petitions to the court to free Allan, Israel had offered to free him this coming November, which would be after his current term of administrative detention would be up.
Dr. Hezy Levy of Barzilai hospital, however, sounded possibility that Allan might be able to recover.
Earlier Wednesday, the head of the hospital where he is being treated told a televised news conference he appeared to have suffered brain damage. The damage is likely “caused by a deficiency in a certain vitamin”, Levy said in a statement.
His mother Maazouza said “I was shaking but happy because I saw he was awake and talking, even if he was slow, not like the day when I entered (Sunday) and he was in a coma”. Allan’s body can not yet process food after such a prolonged fast.
“The story is over, administrative detention is cancelled and therefore there is no strike”, Allan’s lawyer, Jameel Khatib, told Reuters. Doctors have since been intravenously giving him water, vitamins and salts and he was connected to a respirator.
On Wednesday, Israel’s Supreme court suspended the detention order against Allan, releasing him while he receives medical care.
The court ruled that Allan will remain hospitalized, but if his condition improves he can petition for his release. Israeli authorities argue the measure is needed to stop militant attacks, adding that revealing the charges would expose intelligence networks and put lives in danger. Allan has denied the claim of affiliation with the group.
He was previously imprisoned from 2006 to 2009 for allegedly seeking to recruit suicide bombers and assisting wanted Palestinians, according to Israeli domestic security agency Shin Bet.
As Allan’s condition had deteriorated in recent weeks, threats from Palestinian militant groups in the Gaza Strip to end the fragile truce that has largely held since fighting in the coastal enclave a year ago prompted Israel’s military to deploy several Iron Dome missile defense batteries in southern Israel.
His hunger strike aroused protests and tensions in the West Bank, with dozens of rallies of support throughout the Palestinian National Authority and Israel.
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HARRIS: You’re right. There are more than 5,000 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons. But many medical professionals view force-feeding as a violation of patient autonomy akin to torture. The U.S. has admitted to force-feeding detainees at its Navy base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and Britain force-fed some Irish Republican Army prisoners on hunger strikes. Israel’s medical association has urged doctors not to comply with force-feeding, denouncing the act as inhumane.
