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Israel using medical negligence to kill Palestinian prisoners slowly, report says

September 12, 2022 at 10:40 am

A general view of Gilboa prison. [Amir Levy/Getty Images]

Israel has adopted a policy of medical negligence against Palestinian prisoners and this has led to “slow killing” in Israeli prisons, a new report has said.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club stressing that “73 prisoners have been martyred in the occupation’s prisons as a result of the policy of medical neglect (slow killing), since 1967.”

In the report, the PPC stated that “crime of medical negligence, or slow killing, along with policy of torture, are the most prominent policies leading to the death of prisoners.”

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It warned that “about 600 sick prisoners in the occupation’s jails who have been diagnosed with illnesses in the past few years are facing difficult health conditions, including about 200 of whom who suffer from chronic diseases and could die at any moment.”

The organisation noted that the “prison administration relies on delaying the transfer of sick prisoners to hospitals for medical examinations, and this delay policy is the main tool it uses to kill sick prisoners.”

It added that “the majority of those prisoners who were diagnosed with cancer and tumours were subjected to harsh investigations, and some of them were shot by the occupation before arrest, or during their arrest, and were held in solitary confinement for years, or in prisons considered the worst in terms of detention conditions. Most of them are also among the oldest prisoners who have been detained for more than 20 years.”

“Some of those who died and were diagnosed with cancer suffered from worsening health conditions for years before being diagnosed. The prison administration deliberately informs prisoners of their conditions once they’ve reached an advanced stage.”

READ: Palestinian dies of wounds from Israeli fire in West Bank