Ill Palestinian woman dies in Israeli prison, Palestinians demand investigation

The oldest Palestinian female prisoner in Israeli jails died on Saturday in the Israeli Damon prison, near Haifa, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club announced.
 
Saadiyah Matar died at 64 after six months in detention, during which she was charged with stabbing an Israeli settler. The Israeli military prosecution sought to give her a five-year sentence.
 
Matar was a mother to four sons and three daughters and grandmother to several grandchildren. She was injured during her arrest by the Israeli forces in Hebron, last December. According to the Prisoners' Club, her health deteriorated after her arrest.

Palestinian female detainee Saadia Matar, 68, from Hebron, has died in the Israeli occupation prison of Damon, the Palestinian prisoner’s Society has just announced. pic.twitter.com/s6rOry2dYY

— The Inside- Palestine (@TInsidePal) July 2, 2022

"She suffered from high blood pressure and diabetes," Ayah Shreiteh, spokesperson for the Prisoners' Club told The New Arab. "During her arrest, she never underwent a single medical check, which makes her a victim of medical neglect."
 
"Saadiyah was injured so badly at the moment of her arrest that she spent the first week of her arrest in the hospital," her brother told The New Arab.

"When her children visited her two months ago, she was in such bad shape that she didn't recognise them," he said. "In her last hearing, a week ago, she appeared in the courtroom in a wheelchair."

 
According to the Israeli media, the Israeli prison authority said that Matar had lost consciousness on Saturday morning and that "a medic who examined called an intensive care unit."

"Medical staff performed resurrection efforts on her, but her death was determined on the spot," the Israeli prison authority claimed. 
 
For his part, Palestinian prime minister Mohammad Shtayyeh said on Saturday that Israel "bears full responsibility for the death of Saadiyeh Matar" and demanded an investigation into her death.
 
Matar is the 229th Palestinian to die in Israeli custody since 1967. Around 4,700 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli jails, including 32 women, according to human rights groups.