Today, Tuesday, Minister of Health Mai Al-Kaila demanded that Palestinian doctors be allowed to examine sick prisoners inside the occupation prisons , and work to provide them with the necessary medicines and treatment.

This came during a press conference held by the prisoners' institutions and national forces in Ramallah and Al-Bireh, on the issue of sick prisoners, with the participation of the sick prisoners' families: Walid Daqqa , Asif Al-Barghouti , Abdel Basset Maatan , and Khaled Coffins .

Al-Kaila said: "The policy of medical negligence is considered one of the most serious crimes and policies pursued by the occupation prison administration against prisoners, because it contains extensive tools through which it targets prisoners physically and psychologically. This policy can be read historically, in terms of how the prison administration has developed its tools." .

She pointed out that these tools formed the main reason during the past few years for the martyrdom of prisoners in the occupation prisons, the last of whom was the martyr Ahmed Abu Ali from the city of Yatta in the Hebron Governorate, who was admitted to the Israeli "Soroka" hospital.

It called for the immediate release of sick prisoners to allow them to receive appropriate treatment in specialized hospitals, holding the occupation authorities fully responsible for their lives, and held the occupation prisons administration responsible for the continuation of the series of medical negligence against prisoners.

It called on international institutions, human rights institutions, and the Red Cross, which has jurisdiction over prisoners of war, to play its necessary role towards the issue of prisoners, including what was included in the Third and Fourth Geneva Conventions, the International Covenant on Human Rights, and relevant international agreements.

For her part, Sana Salama, the wife of the sick prisoner Walid Daqqa, said: "The serious health condition that her husband reached came as a result of the deliberate medical negligence by the occupation prison administration, and the delay in transferring him to the hospital, adding that the occupation prison administration transferred him to the hospital after he arrived at the hospital." very dangerous stage.

She stressed that the next few days are crucial for the stability of his health, and if he is stable, "we hope that he will survive this health crisis."

Salama explained that any disease, whether it was a cold or a germ, to which her husband is exposed, could lead to a deterioration in his already deteriorating health condition, and exacerbate his disease (cancer).

And she called for the need to expand solidarity campaigns with sick prisoners, and for their suffering to be in the headlines of newspapers, radio and satellite channels, and for media coverage to be intensified around them, and she also called for the need to move from various official and popular levels to save sick prisoners.

For her part, Zubaida Maatan said that her husband, the prisoner Abd al-Basit Maatan, is facing a continuous deterioration in his health, as he has not received any treatment since his arrest in July 2022.

She added: "Before his arrest, her husband used to receive medicines and nutritional supplements, and when he was arrested, he took them with him, but the occupation prison administration confiscated them and prevented him from taking them, while they conceal his medical file and refuse to submit it to the courts, in order to continue extending his administrative detention."

She indicated that her husband had recently suffered from inflammation of the sciatic nerve, a continuous decrease in weight, and general weakness in the body, pointing out that since his arrest he had been transferred to the hospital twice for a tomography and an endoscopy, and a month after the image was taken, the doctor, who is a general and non-specialist doctor, confirmed to him. , that he had a mass on the lung, the nature of which was not determined.

As for Abd al-Muti al-Rifai, the father of the cancer-sick prisoner, Asif al-Rifai , from the village of Kafr Ein, northwest of Ramallah, whose condition is considered one of the most difficult cases in the occupation prisons, he said that cancerous cells have spread throughout his son’s body, and in addition to the colon, they have reached new parts of the intestines. glands, and liver, and that his health condition is rapidly deteriorating, and he urgently needs chemotherapy.

He added, "His situation is more difficult and worse than we can imagine. In every visit or trial session, it is worse than the previous one. In the last trial session, the judge decided that this last session should be in his presence, and this indicates the great danger he has reached."

Al-Rifai continued: "But Asif has a strong build, and does not give up easily, although he suffers from severe pains in his body, while the prison administration is satisfied with providing him with painkillers."

He demanded the need for urgent intervention to save the lives of sick prisoners, and for a medical delegation from the World Health Organization to be sent to see the health status of sick prisoners, especially those who are in the clinic in Ramla prison.

For her part, Ahlam Al-Tawabit, the wife of the sick prisoner Khaled Tawabit, who has been administratively detained since last November, said that her husband, who is in Ofer prison, urgently needs open-heart surgery, as he suffers from a weak heart valve, and it was scheduled to be performed for him. process before his arrest.

And international institutions and human rights called for the necessity of urgent intervention in order to release the prisoners, especially the sick ones.

It is noteworthy that the number of sick prisoners in the occupation prisons is 700 prisoners whose health condition has been diagnosed only, of whom 24 suffer from cancer and tumors of varying degrees.