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<\/a><\/p>\nPublished On 14 Jan 202614 Jan 2026<\/p>\n
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Three detained British activists who spent weeks refusing food<\/a> have ended their hunger strike, citing a report that a United Kingdom-based subsidiary of a major Israeli weapons company was denied a UK government contract.<\/p>\n The Prisoners for Palestine group said in a statement on Wednesday that hunger strikers Kamran Ahmed, Heba Muraisi<\/a> and Lewie Chiaramello ended their strike after one of their \u201ckey\u201d demands was achieved.<\/p>\n Recommended Stories list of 3 itemsend of list<\/p>\n \u201cOur prisoners\u2019 hunger strike will be remembered as a landmark moment of pure defiance; an embarrassment for the British state,\u201d the group said.<\/p>\n Several people affiliated with the proscribed group Palestine Action<\/a> had refused food in UK prisons since November in protest of their detention and the British government\u2019s support for Israel as it wages a genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza.<\/p>\n The activists\u2019 relatives and friends had warned that their prolonged hunger strike put them at risk of serious health problems and even death.<\/p>\n The Times reported on Tuesday that Elbit Systems UK, a subsidiary of the Israeli arms manufacturer of the same name, had failed to win a $2.69bn contract to help train British soldiers.<\/p>\n Citing an unnamed UK Ministry of Defence \u201cinsider\u201d, the news outlet said the department instead chose to award the contract to a rival consortium led by Raytheon UK.<\/p>\n \u201cThe abrupt cancellation of this deal is a resounding victory for the hunger strikers, who resisted with their incarcerated bodies to shed light on the role of Elbit Systems, Israel\u2019s largest weapons manufacturer, in the colonisation and occupation of Palestine,\u201d Prisoners for Palestine said.<\/p>\n For years, Palestinian rights activists have called on countries to divest from Elbit Systems over its role in supplying the Israeli military with weapons used in alleged war crimes in the occupied Palestinian territory.<\/p>\n That includes the war-ravaged Gaza Strip, where Israel\u2019s military assault has killed more than 71,000 Palestinians since October 2023.<\/p>\n The Palestine Action hunger-strikers were jailed over their alleged involvement in break-ins<\/a> at the UK subsidiary of Elbit Systems in Filton near Bristol in 2024.<\/p>\n