Gaza prisoner dies in Israeli hospital from 'medical negligence'

The Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC) announced Thursday that a prisoner from the Gaza Strip died at an Israeli hospital due to "medical negligence."

Sami Al-Amour, 39, from the town of Deir al-Balah died on Thursday at the Soroka hospital in Israel after more than a decade in detention, the PPC said a press statement sent to The New Arab.

Al-Amour was detained in 2008 and sentenced to 19 years in prison after allegedly attempting to kill an Israeli soldier, and was deprived of family visits during this time, the PPC said.

He suffered from a congenital heart problem exacerbated by medical negligence, the rights group added.

At least seven Palestinians in Israeli custody are refusing food in protest at their detention without charge by Israeli authorities.

Two are now in hospital 👇https://t.co/AzpOm563HI

— The New Arab (@The_NewArab) October 5, 2021

With Al-Amour's death, 227 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli detention since 1967, including 72 due to "medical negligence", the statement said.

The PPC, a non-government organisation, held the Israeli Prisons Administration fully responsible for Amour's death and for the lives of all sick prisoners in detention.

It called on all relevant authorities to intervene to halt this "systematic and ongoing crime against the prisoners."

The Israeli Prison Service said in a statement that Al-Amour, a security prisoner, was transferred to Soroka Hospital on Tuesday due to a deterioration in his health.

"After a further deterioration in the prisoner's condition, the ward doctor announced his death at dawn today, Wednesday, in the hospital," the statement said.

There are 4,650 Palestinian prisoners - including 34 female prisoners and about 160 children - held in Israeli prisons.

So far, Al-Amour's family does not know if the Israeli authorities will allow them to bring their son's body to be buried in Gaza or not.

Ahmed Al-Amour, the prisoner's brother, told The New Arab that the Israeli prison administration deliberately delayed providing his brother with medical treatment until his death.

"My brother was suffering from a difficult health condition for months, and the Israeli authorities refused to transfer him to the hospital until he reached a serious health stage that caused his death," he said.

He called on the international community to pressure Israel to release all the Palestinian prisoners who are suffering from health conditions as soon as possible.