Dirar Abu Sisi, the 43-year-old deputy engineer of the only power plant in the Gaza Strip, went on a one-day hunger strike Thursday to protest against being held in solitary confinement by Israel. His fast marks the latest episode in a mysterious story of abduction and torture.
In February 2011, Abu Sisi traveled to Ukraine, his wife Veronika’s native country, to seek citizenship after Operation Cast Lead, Israel’s winter 2008-09 attack on the Gaza Strip, made him fear for the safety of their six children. On 18 February, he boarded an overnight train from Kharkiv to Kyiv, hoping to meet his brother Yousef, a resident of the Netherlands, for the first time in 15 years.
