Khader Adnan, a Palestinian prisoner who had been on a hunger strike in an Israeli prison for 87 days to protest his detention, died early Tuesday, according to his lawyer and Palestinian and Israeli officials.

It was Adnan, 44, who helped usher in the practice of individual hunger strikes by Palestinian prisoners, conducting a 66-day strike in 2011 that inspired others to use it as a means of protesting Israel’s incarceration of Palestinians, especially the practice of administrative detention.

This time, Adnan had been on a hunger strike since his arrest on February 5. In recent days, Israeli doctors had warned that his death was “imminent” and called for him to be transferred to a hospital.

Israel had accused Adnan of being affiliated with Islamic Jihad and he was arrested on suspicion of membership in a terrorist organisation, support for terrorism and incitement. The Palestinian foreign ministry said it held Israel fully responsible for his death.

“The Israeli occupation carried out a deliberate assassination against the prisoner Khader Adnan by rejecting his request for his release, neglecting him medically and keeping him in his cell despite the seriousness of his health condition,” the Palestinian Prime Minister, Mohammad Shtayyeh, said.

New York Times News Service