The UK government rejected a $2.7 billion contract for a subsidiary of Israel’s largest weapons maker, Elbit Systems.
Activists demonstrate in support of Palestine Action hunger striker Kamran Ahmed at Pentonville Prison on January 6, 2026, in London, England. Guy Smallman / Getty Images
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Three British activists jailed for alleged involvement with the banned anti-genocide group Palestine Action ended their monthslong hunger strike late Wednesday after the UK government rejected a $2.7 billion contract for a subsidiary of Israel’s largest weapons maker, Elbit Systems.
Prisoners for Palestine (P4P), which represents the hunger strikers, said that Hamran Ahmed, Heba Muraisi, and Lewie Chiaramello would accept food again. Muraisi hadn’t eaten in 73 days, while Ahmed refused food for 66 days and Chiaramello, who has Type 1 diabetes, fasted every other day for 44 days.
“It is definitely a time for celebration,” Chiaramello said Thursday. “A time to rejoice and to embrace our joy as revolution and as liberation.”
P4P spokesperson Francesca Nadin told the New Arab that the hunger strike “will be remembered as a landmark moment of pure defiance; an embarrassment for the British state.”
“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,” P4P added. “This is just the beginning. Even though the people who have just finished their hunger strike will have some time to recover, they’re also really motivated and want to continue doing as many things as possible.”
Some members of Palestine Action have ended their hunger strike after the UK ended a £2 billion contract with Elbit Systems, an Israeli arms company. They include Heba Muraisi, whose hunger strike lasted over 70 days. Her friends and family warned she was near death. pic.twitter.com/NOQ8UkOpkJ
— AJ+ (@ajplus) January 14, 2026
P4P said other hunger-striking members of the “Filton 24” — Teuta Hoxha, Jon Cink, Qesser Zuhrah, and Amu Gib — were also accepting food following the UK government’s announcement that it would not award a military training contract to Elbit Systems’ British subsidiary.
The end of the strike came as Ahmed, Muraisi, and Chiaramello suffered deteriorating health, with Muraisi telling a friend earlier this week that she was “dying.”
Two dozen alleged Palestine Action activists are accused of breaking into Elbit Systems’ research and development facility in Filton in 2024. Alleged members of the group also staged direct action protests targeting other UK weapons factories that export arms to Israel as it wages a genocidal war in Gaza.
P4P hailed the contract cancellation as “a resounding victory for the hunger strikers, who resisted with their incarcerated bodies to shed light on the role of Elbit Systems,