The room occupied by Palestinian hunger striker Muhammad al-Kik at the HaEmek Hospital in Afula has become a pilgrimage site for human rights activists. This is the first time that activists and journalists alike have had a chance to visit a hunger striker in his room to shake his hand and offer encouragement. Just outside, dozens of police officers guard the room, while security cameras cover every corner of the hospital’s internal medicine ward.

Al-Kik, a 33-year-old resident of Dura in the Hebron District, works as a journalist for the Saudi Almajd news network. Upon his arrest by the Israeli authorities on Nov. 21, 2015, he decided to use a hunger strike to protest his administrative detention. That hunger strike has been going on for more than 80 days now.

His attorney, Hanan Hatib, told Al-Monitor that his life is now in serious danger. All he drinks is water. Unlike Samer Issawi and other Palestinian hunger strikers, he refuses to take any salt or mineral supplements. He will not accept any medical care and refuses to even be seen by a doctor, fearing that it could interfere with his protest.

In a conversation with Al-Monitor, Kik’s fellow journalists in Hebron claim that the reason for his detention is his firm attitude toward Israel and the Palestinian Authority. As a reporter and lecturer, Kik lashed out regularly at the Palestinian leadership. Nevertheless, the Shin Bet claims that his activity as a journalist has nothing to do with his administrative detention. They say that he is a Hamas activist who has served time in prison for his activities, that he maintains contact with Hamas activists in Gaza and that he is still involved in terrorist activities through a student group aligned with Hamas at Bir Zeit University.