Islamic Jihad terrorist Khader Adnan
Islamic Jihad terrorist Khader AdnanReuters

A Palestinian Arab terrorist held in an Israeli jail and on hunger strike for 53 days is in a critical condition and could die "at any moment," his lawyer said Saturday.

"Khader Adnan may suddenly die at any moment, doctors have confirmed to me,"  Jawad Boulos, legal counsel for the Ramallah-based Prisoners Club of the Palestinian Authority (PA) told AFP.

He said he received a call in the middle of the night saying "that the doctors at the Israeli hospital, where Khadar Adnan is currently held, were on alert due to the deterioration of his condition."

Khader Adnan has portrayed as an innocent man imprisoned by Israel without cause by radical leftist groups, but he is in fact a well-known leader of the Islamic Jihad terrorist group in the Judea and Samaria region. He is accused of planning attacks as well as openly inciting violence, in calls for suicide bombing attacks that have been caught on film.

Boulos said he made a bedside visit to his terrorist client on Saturday morning and found him "in a more critical condition, incapable of moving."

Israel Prisons Service spokeswoman Sivan Weizman said Adnan was receiving treatment in Assaf Harofeh hospital near Tel Aviv, but she could not comment on his medical condition.

Adnan has been in and out of Israeli prisons over the past several years, and has gone on hunger strike before - most recently in 2012, when he was released from prison after a 66-day hunger strike.

He was arrested as part of a crackdown on terrorists in Judea and Samaria after three Israeli teens were abducted and murdered by Hamas terrorists in Judea last June.

Earlier this month Hamas called for the immediate release of Adnan who is protesting against the conditions of his imprisonment, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club.

AFP contributed to this report.