Medical estimates put survival without food at 45 to 61 days. Three Palestine Action activists in the UK are now pushing beyond that boundary.
Three British activists from the proscribed Palestine Action group are on hunger strike seeking bail and a fair trial, with friends and relatives warning they are close to death but determined to continue until their demands are met.
Heba Muraisi and Kamran Ahmed have refused food for 70 and 63 days respectively as part of a rolling hunger strike that began in November. A third prisoner, Lewie Chiaramello, is also refusing food on alternating days due to type 1 diabetes.
Five of the eight people who took part in the protest have ended their hunger strikes due to health concerns.
They are held in different jails over their alleged involvement in break-ins at the United Kingdom subsidiary of Israeli defence firm Elbit Systems in Bristol, where equipment was damaged, and at a Royal Air Force base in Oxfordshire, where two military aircraft were sprayed with red paint.
They deny all charges.
The group is demanding:
- Bail and the right to a fair trial, and the reversal of the UK government’s July designation of Palestine Action as a “terrorist organisation”, placing it alongside ISIL (ISIS) and al-Qaeda.
- Closure in the UK of all Elbit sites, which are facilities operated by Israel’s largest defence company, manufacturing military technology used by the Israeli armed forces and other governments.
- An end to what they describe as censorship inside prison, including the withholding of mail, phone calls and books.
All eight will have spent more than a year in custody without trials, exceeding the UK’s usual six-month pre-trial detention limit.
What does prolonged hunger do to the body?
In the early stages of starvation, after several days without food, the body begins breaking down muscle to produce energy.
As the fast continues, metabolism slows down. The body loses its ability to regulate temperature, kidney function deteriorates, and the immune system weakens, reducing the body’s ability to heal from injury.
Once the body’s reserves are depleted, it can no longer prioritise nutrients for vital organs. The heart and lungs become less efficient, muscles shrink and profound weakness sets in.
Eventually, as protein stores are depleted, and the body begins to break down its own tissues. At this stage, death may be imminent.
Scientific research on prolonged starvation is limited due to ethical reasons; however, estimates suggest that a healthy, well-nourished adult could survive without food for between 45 and 61 days, which means the three activists have now reached, or exceeded, that threshold, placing them in extreme, life-threatening danger.
International concern
Hunger strikes have long been used as an extreme, non-violent form of protest, relying on moral pressure to compel those in power to act. Historical records trace the practice to ancient India and Ireland, where people would fast at the doorstep of someone who had wronged them as a form of public shaming.
In modern times, hunger strikes remain powerful political statements, often drawing international attention to cases of imprisonment, injustice or repression, even at the cost of the striker’s life. Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners incarcerated without any charges by Israel have resorted to hunger strikes to bring attention to their cases.
United Nations experts said hunger strikes are “often a measure of last resort by people who believe their rights to protest and effective remedy have been exhausted”. They added that the state’s duty of care towards hunger strikers is heightened, not diminished, and that authorities must ensure timely access to emergency and hospital care, refrain from pressure or retaliation, and respect medical ethics.
Kerry Moscogiuri, director of campaigns and communications at Amnesty International UK, called the situation alarming. She said it was “shocking that these activists have been forced to resort to such desperate measures to bring attention to their plight”, adding that the crisis reflects a “gross misuse of counterterrorism powers”.
