Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails are victims of slow death policy

Hundreds of sick Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation jails are in danger of dying at any moment as a result of the arbitrary practices of the occupation against them, foremost of which is deliberate medical negligence. This requires the international community and its human rights, legal and humanitarian institutions to intervene urgently and put pressure on the occupation to release them.

In a statement to SANA reporter, the mother of the prisoner, Hussam Al-Zaanin, recounts the suffering of her son, who has been in the occupation’s prisons for eight years. She said that Hussam suffers from multiple diseases that threaten his life in light of medical neglect, and the occupation refuses to allow us to visit him for the fifth year in a row despite his critical health condition.

Al-Zaanin said that her son, in light of his deteriorating health condition and his urgent need for surgical intervention, uses only painkillers in solitary cells. She  pointed out that his two daughters have been deprived of their father and do not know his features which is considered a crime against the prisoners’ children and their families who are prevented from contacting with them. 

Mother of prisoner Amer Abu Jarad said that she is prevented from visiting and communicating with her son who is jailed in a solitary cell, stressing that she fears for his life in light of the harsh conditions the prisoners face. She underlined the importance of paying attention by  international institutions to the suffering of the prisoners and their families in light of medical neglect and rejection of visits.

Head of the Studies and Documentation Unit in the Prisoners’ Affairs Authority, Abdel Nasser Farwana, indicated that the health conditions of prisoners inside Israeli prisons are difficult and dangerous, in light of the occupation’s policy of slow death against them and depriving them of obtaining the necessary treatment. He stressed that there are 550 prisoners suffering from various diseases. A large number of them suffer from chronic and dangerous diseases such as cancer, heart and kidney failure, and they need health care and urgent intervention to save their lives.

Director of the Prisoners Center for Studies, Rafiq Hamdouneh, indicated that there is an escalation in the repression and abuse of prisoners and the continuation of medical neglect . He pointed out that the harsh conditions of detention and malnutrition caused the spread of many serious diseases among the prisoners who numbered about 4,500, as 340 prisoners need urgent surgeries, which the occupation refuses to undergo or even provide them with the necessary medical tests and treatment.

Hamdouneh pointed out that 140 children and 40 women are imprisoned by the occupation, who are subjected to all kinds of physical and psychological torture, and who are deprived of their most basic human rights in flagrant violation of all international norms and laws.

Specialist in the prisoners’ file, Nashat Al-Wahidi, noted that the occupation has prevented the families of the prisoners from paying visits since March last year, as well as preventing the entry of necessary clothes and blankets for them. It is taking advantage of the Corona epidemic to restrict the prisoners and deprive them of their needs and requirements. But, the prisoners carried out a series of protests refusing the occupation’s preventing of their relatives’ visits and confirmed carrying out more protests in the coming days.

Inas Abdulkareem