Wael Arafat, a 28 year old man from Palestine, particularly Deir Al Balah is unable to return to his family in Gaza. Arafat has left the Palestinian occupied territories as a teenager. Arriving in the UK, he found two adopting parents that secured him a decent life and education. Like many war stricken families, Arafat has lost 17 members of his family in Palestine, the news of this loss has changed his life dramatically.
For almost two months Arafat has been on an on going hunger strike. His mother Patricia Davis Thomas, according to an interview with the BBC has said he is ‘very unwell’ and only a week after Arafat started his strike, they had to call for an ambulance. Because of the hunger strike, Arafat’s health is severely deteriorating. He said to the BBC “I probably have a week or two before I die”
Arafat wants the people to hear his story and do something about the ethnic cleansing happening in Gaza, calling for a ceasefire. He only plans on ending the strike when “they hear us and know that we are not animals, we are humans and when I see the ceasefire in Gaza.”
When his mother was asked to comment on her son’s strike that is costing him his health, and very possibly his life, she said the strike may not be his best option, but it is his only option.
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