Report: 1,600 Palestinian patients in Israeli jails

Report: 1,600 Palestinian patients in Israeli jails

The Palestinian center for the defense of prisoners reported Tuesday that the number of Palestinian patients imprisoned in Israeli jails amounted to 1,600 prisoners, 16 of them suffer from cancer, adding that Israel pursues the policy of medical neglect and provides Palestinian patients only with palliative medical treatment.


In a report issued on the occasion of world health day and a copy of which was received by the PIC, the center said that the only medication prescribed for all diseases in Israeli jails is different kinds of painkilling pills.


According to the report 550 Palestinian prisoners are in need of urgent sugary and 160 others suffer from serious diseases like cancer, heart problems and kidney failure while 18 detainees use wheelchairs and crutches.


The report added that 80 prisoners are diabetic and dozens are threatened to lose their eyesight and two already went blind as a result of medical neglect, in addition to dozens of patients who have different medical cases and are still imprisoned in Israeli jails.


The report underlined that the number of Palestinian prisoners who died in Israeli jails amounted to 195 victims, pointing out that this toll does not include the detainees who died as a result of medical neglect or were killed as a result of torture or physical assaults.


In a related context, the Palestinian ministry of detainees and ex-detainees said Wednesday that the Israeli occupation exploits the impoverished Gaza people”s means of livelihood and their freedom to blackmail them into working for it as agents and provide information about the Palestinian resistance.


In a press statement received by the PIC, Riyadh Al-Ashqar, the director of information office in the ministry, deplored the Israeli occupation for kidnapping and attacking Palestinian fishermen at sea in order to pressure them to work as informers or else they and their boats would be targeted by the Israeli navy.


Ashqar added that Israel pursues this malicious policy against Palestinian children in detention centers in the West Bank and the Palestinian lands occupied in 1948, where the detained children are maltreated and then bargained for their freedom and release from jails in exchange for working for Israel as informers.


The ministry warned of the consequences of falling into the clutches of treason in exchange for material inducements and called on all concerned institutions to carry out a wide campaign to raise the awareness of Palestinian citizens in this regard.