AN ISRAELI court has extended the detention of Palestinian prisoner Khalil Awawdeh, who ended a 172-day hunger strike in August, days before his expected release.

Mr Awawdeh was due to be freed on October 2, but the magistrates’ court in Rishon LeZion, near Tel Aviv, ruled on Wednesday that he would be held until at least October 9.

According to prisoners’ rights groups and his family, Mr Awawdeh’s imprisonment was extended because he had allegedly attempted to take the mobile phone he had at Assaf Harofeh hospital with him to Ramla prison clinic when he was transferred there.