Israel's military prosecutors offer to free Palestinian hunger-striker in November

Israeli military prosecutors have offered to free jailed Palestinian activist Mohamed Allan on November 3 if the latter ends an ongoing hunger strike-now in its third month-that has drawn international media attention and sparked demonstrations, according to a Palestinian official.

"On Wednesday, Israeli military prosecutors told Allan's lawyer, Jamil al-Khateeb, that they would release his client and remove him from administrative detention in exchange for ending his hunger-strike," Issa Qaraqe, Palestinian minister for prisoners' affairs, told Anadolu Agency by phone.

Allan himself, Qaraqe added, would have the final say on whether or not to accept the offer.

A 31-year-old lawyer from the occupied West Bank and a reported member of Palestine's Islamic Jihad resistance group, Allan was detained by Israeli authorities last November.

On June 18, he began a hunger strike to protest his ongoing custody under Israel's policy of "administrative detention," which allows suspects to be held for renewable periods without charge or trial.

Allan's case has drawn considerable media attention and sparked demonstrations both in Israel and the Israeli-occupied West Bank.

According to Israeli press reports, 15 people were arrested on Sunday for demonstrating outside Barzilai Hospital, a facility in Israel's southern city of Ashkelon at which Allan is being held.