Palestinian detainees die due to 'medical negligence' in Israel prisons

By Qais Omar Darwesh Omar, Zeynep Tufekci Gulay and Ekrem Biceroglu

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - Palestinian patients suffer from Israel's policy of deliberate medical neglect in prisons that leads to the slow death of prisoners, according to Palestinian authorities.

According to Palestinian institutions that monitor detainees in Israeli prisons, it is believed that the Israeli authorities intentionally neglect the health needs of Palestinian prisoners, resulting in their slow death.

Palestinian detainee Khader Adnan died inside an Israeli prison on April 2 after an 87-day hunger strike in protest against his detention.

Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammad Shtayyeh accused Israel of deliberately assassinating Adnan.

The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said it will take the issue of Adnan’s death in prison to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

According to the data of the Palestinian Prisoner Society and the Commission for Prisoners' Affairs of the umbrella Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), there are around 4,900 Palestinians, including 30 women, 160 children, and almost 1,000 administrative detainees – held in prison without trial – in Israeli prisons and detention centers.

There are about 700 Palestinians suffering from health problems, including 24 cancer patients, and patients who need to undergo medical operations.

About 152 Palestinians have been in jail for over 20 years, and 23 others arrested before the Oslo Accords signed in 1993 are still behind bars.

According to the data, 554 Palestinian prisoners were sentenced to life imprisonment one or more times.

According to Palestinian sources, since 1967 when Israel occupied East Jerusalem and West Bank, 236 Palestinians have lost their lives in Israeli prisons. Of them, 75 have died as a result of medical negligence.

Israel buries the bodies of Palestinians in graves called the “cemetery of numbers.” Graves in this cemetery carry only numbers instead of names and 256 Palestinians have been buried there since 1967.

*Writing by Seda Sevencan