McGill student hospitalized after hunger strike against Israel-Hamas war

A McGill University student is in hospital after taking part in a hunger strike demanding that the school divest from certain companies believed to be contributing to Israel's war against Hamas.

"I was told to get IV fluids because I was started to get really dehydrated. I was nauseous all the time. I was starting to reach those dangerous levels of starvation," Rania Amine tells CTV News from her hospital bed.

Amine is one of a dozen students who embarked on the indefinite hunger strike on Feb. 19.

They say the goal is to get the attention of other students and the university's administration so that McGill will walk away from its million-dollar investments with companies they claim are contributing to the war.

"I am not comfortable with one single dollar going towards a settler colonial state that is currently conducting one of the most violent and unprecedented genocides in recent history," Amine said.

The students are not part of a recognized organization within the school.

Nevertheless, they say they want a public meeting with McGill's administration.

The school has offered a private meeting, saying that while it recognizes the students' right to free speech, it hopes they do so in a healthy way.

Now, only one student remains on the hunger strike, living off a diet of water, broth and electrolytes.

"You can't just sit there and do nothing," said the student, who gave his name as Chadi. "The goal at the end of the day is to tell our university and make it loud and clear that we are willing to do what it takes to be heard."

He says he has no plans to stop his strike, pointing out that the university has divested from fossil fuel companies and, decades ago, from companies that contributed to South Africa's system of apartheid.

He says he's hoping McGill will hear his pleas.