227 Palestinian prisoners are estimated to have died in Israeli jails since 1967 mostly from health complications and medical negligence and some of them were released after their conditions reached critical stages. The latest victim was the cancer-stricken ex-detainee Hussein Masalmeh who was given early release a few months ago.
Masalmeh a 39-year-old from al-Khader town in Bethlehem died on September 22 2021 at the Istishari Hospital in Ramallah City after the Israeli occupation authority decided to release him in February 2021 at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem due to his suffering from end-stage leukemia. He was arrested in 2002 and spent about 18 years of his 20-year prison term.
The death of Masalmeh has reopened the file of the “medical neglect policy” in Israeli jails which is systematically pursued against sick detainees in order to accelerate the deterioration of their health suffering.
Several Palestinian human rights organizations especially those concerned with prisoner affairs already revealed the size of Israeli disregard for prisoners’ lives and health conditions and sent many letters in this regard to international rights groups to urge intervention to save their lives especially of those with serious health problems and not receiving proper medical care.
The Palestinian Ministry of Detainees’ and Ex-Detainees’ Affairs in Gaza has accused prominent international organizations especially the Red Cross and the World Health Organization of neglecting the health suffering of prisoners in Israeli jails.
Spokesman for the ministry Islam Abdo told the Palestinian Information Center (PIC) that these international organizations’ indifference to the health conditions of sick prisoners gave the Israeli prison service (IPS) the green light to persist in using the health neglect policy especially in light of the growing number of patients in its detention facilities.
Masalmeh’s death raised the number of the prisoners who have died since 1967 while in Israeli custody or soon later after their release to 227 victims according to spokesman Abdo.
72 of those prisoners died after their exposure to medical neglect that led to health complications 73 others died as a result of torture and 82 were intentionally killed by Israeli gunfire while being in custody.
Describing medical negligence as a systematic Israeli punitive measure taken solely against the Palestinian prisoners Abdo accused the IPS of providing patients in its jails with painkillers most of the time.
He affirmed that any prisoner suffering from a health problem needs about three or four months to obtain approval to see a specialist and undergo medical tests or treatment and his or her health may worsen during such an agonizingly long time of waiting.
He added that Masalmeh was one of those prisoners whose bodies were devastated by diseases during their long wait for treatment.
Masalmeh was one of more than 600 male and female prisoners suffering from different health issues some of them serious and chronic diseases such as heart and kidney problems and cancer.
