The Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs accused the Israel Prison Service (IPS) on Sunday of “deliberately neglecting sick Palestinian prisoners” held in the Ashkelon and Ramla detention centers.
Committee lawyer Karim Ajweh said that the healths of 19 Palestinians currently being treated in the Ramla and Ashkelon prison hospitals were “getting worse due to negligence by the Israel Prison Service.”
Ajweh notably mentioned the case of Muhammad Abrash, who underwent a partial foot amputation, and whom a doctor had notified would need further amputation. Meanwhile, fellow prisoner Mansour Mawqada, who Ajweh said was physically disabled, was also suffering from nervous system, intestinal, and dental problems.
In Ashkelon prison, Ajweh said Moussa Sawfan had been diagnosed with a lung tumor while participating in a mass prisoner hunger strike earlier this year, prompting doctors to remove one third of his lung.
Ramzi Abrash, who is also detained in Ashkelon, has been suffering from heart and eyesight problems for years “without receiving any medical treatment,” Ajweh said, causing his health to worsen day by day.
The medical neglect of Palestinian prisoners was a central issue during the recent hunger strike, which also included demands for an end to the denial of family visits, the right to pursue higher education, appropriate medical care and treatment, and an end to solitary confinement and administrative detention — imprisonment without charge or trial — among other demands for basic rights.
However, while the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs announced that 80 percent of the hunger strikers’ demands were met, IPS has repeatedly stated that it did not engage in negotiations with the prisoners.
According to prisoners’ rights group Addameer, 6,300 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons as of June, most of whom are being held inside the Israeli territory in contravention of international law.
Addameer has reported that 40 percent of the male Palestinian population has been detained by Israeli authorities at some point in their lives.
(Ma’an)
