Qaraqea said that Zionist authorities had informed him that Samer Issawi, who has intermittently refused food for more than eight months, "is in critical condition and might die at any moment."

Issawi, 33, was first arrested in 2002 and sentenced to 26 years for being a member to the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine.

Zionist regime released him under a prisoner swap in October 2011, but he was rearrested last July for what Zionist authorities claimed was “violating the terms of the agreement by travelling to the occupied West Bank” from occupied East al-Quds.

Zionist regime claimed on Friday that “Issawi had gone to the West Bank to establish terror cells".

Issawi's health has deteriorated because of his prolonged fast, and he was being held in an Israeli hospital.

Qaraqea said that the Palestinians had requested that he be released temporarily to the West Bank.

“We proposed that they [Zionist authorities] release him to Ramallah for a while and they refused," he said.

“We agreed to send him to Europe for a few months to receive medical treatment and then come back again but they refused."