Three members of Palestine Action have concluded their 73-day hunger strike, asserting that a significant demand of theirs has been fulfilled.

Heba Muraisi, Kamran Ahmed, and Lewie Chiaramello decided to end their hunger strikes following the news that Elbit Systems UK did not secure a government contract.

They joined Teuta Hoxha, Jon Cink, Qesser Zuhrah, and Amy Gardiner-Gibson, also known as Amu Gib, in receiving medical care and re-feeding treatment under the supervision of doctors.

According to Prisoners for Palestine, Elbit Systems UK missed out on a £2 billion contract that would have involved training approximately 60,000 British soldiers annually.

They described the company as one of Israel’s major arms manufacturers and suggested that losing the contract indicates the company’s potential decline.

The activist group hailed the hunger strike as a “landmark moment of pure defiance” and labeled it an “embarrassment for the British state.”

They are also demanding that the Government lift a ban on Palestine Action, which became a proscribed terrorist organisation in July last year.

The three activists, who called themselves Prisoners For Palestine, all starved themselves longer than IRA bomber Bobby Sands, who died in 1981 after refusing food for 66 days.

Palestine Action prisoners (left to right) Teuta Hoxha, Kamran Ahmed, Jon Cink, Heba Muraisi, Qesser Zuhrah and Amy Gardiner-Gibson

Surviving more than two months without food had already started to take its toll on the protesters. 

Last week it was reported that 31-year-old lifeguard and florist Heba Muraisi was struggling to breathe, with muscle spasms in one arm, indicating possible neurological damage.

She told Metro she was ‘terrified’ of how her strike may end. 

She said: ‘My body shakes, I get dizzy to the point of nausea and now breathing is getting hard. I am deteriorating in this cell, I am dying.’ 

The family of Teuta Hoxha, 29, also feared she would die in jail after saying she was suffering from continuous headaches and mobility issues.

In total, eight activists have taken part in Palestine Action’s strike, which is the largest in the UK since 1981 when 10 IRA prisoners died.

The hunger strikers have reportedly only been drinking water and a homemade mix of electrolyte solutions to stabilise their blood pressure. 

Muraisi, who is originally from Yemen and has family in Rafah, Gaza, is accused of being connected to an alleged break–in at the UK site of Elbit Systems, in Bristol in August 2024. She denies the charges.

Most of the strikers face charges including aggravated burglary, violent disorder and criminal damage relating to the break-in at the Bristol site.

Palestine Action activist Heba Muraisi, 31, starved herself for 73 days and was reported to be ‘close to death’

Kamran Ahmed is one of the Palestine Action supporters who ended his hunger strike after 73 days

At a hearing last month, Woolwich Crown Court was told that six protesters had wielded sledgehammers and sprayed fire extinguishers at security guards.

One activist allegedly struck a female police officer, causing a fractured spine.

The other strikers allegedly broke into RAF Brize Norton and damaged two military planes. 

In the aftermath, Palestine Action said two of its activists infiltrated Britain’s largest RAF base and sprayed red paint into the engines of two Airbus Voyager aircraft before escaping without being caught. 

There have been numerous instances of the protesters being rushed to hospital since the strike began over two months ago.

In a statement, Prisoners for Palestine said: ‘Our prisoners hunger strike will be remembered as a landmark moment of pure defiance; an embarrassment for the British state. 

‘It exposed to the world Britain has political prisoners in service of a foreign genocidal regime, and has seen hundreds of people commit to take direct action in the prisoners’ footsteps.

‘While these prisoners end their hunger strike, the resistance has just begun. Banning a group and imprisoning our comrades has backfired on the British state, direct action is alive and the people will drive Elbit out of Britain for good’

Pictured: Supporters of the Palestine Action hunger strikers protest in Parliament Square last month

Amy Gardiner-Gibson, also known as Amu Gib, joined seven other protesters in ending their strike

Lewie Chiaramello spoke after ending his hunger strike yesterday.

He said: ‘It is definitely a time for celebration. A time to rejoice and to embrace our joy as revolution and as liberation. 

‘We do this because of Palestine, because we’ve been inspired, because we’ve been empowered to take action and to try to realise our dreams for a free Palestine, for an emancipated world.’

Fellow hunger striker Amu Gib said: ‘We have never trusted the government with our lives, and we will not start now. We will be the ones to decide how we give our lives to justice and liberation.’