A 22-year-old Palestinian prisoner, Assef Refae, died in Israel’s Assaf Harofeh hospital following a systematic denial of treatment by prison authorities, the Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Society Prisoner’s Club announced on Thursday, February 29.
Refae was arrested by Israeli authorities from Kufr Ein Ramallah on September 24, 2022. He had already been diagnosed with cancer at the time of his arrest. Despite knowing about his medical condition, Israeli soldiers injured him several times during his detention.
According to the Commission and the Prisoner’s Club, Israeli authorities had even threatened to assassinate him prior to arresting him.
Despite knowing his medical condition and requirements of treatment, Refae was kept in Israel’s notorious Ofer prison. He was only transferred to the clinic of Al-Ramla prison after tremendous pressure by the prison right groups.
According to the Commission and the Prisoner’s Club “Refae was exposed to a medical crime by the occupation authorities, as they deprived him of getting a permit to enter Jerusalem for treatment, and pursued the crime by arresting him, procrastinating in conducting medical examinations and depriving him from taking medication for seven months.”
The medical reports have confirmed that delays caused by the occupation authorities in his treatment caused the spread of cancer in most parts of his body.
Israeli occupation authorities had also denied Refae regular visits from his family members. His family was last allowed to visit Refae in September 2023. He was also denied regular telephonic conversation with his family.
According to the Commission and the Prisoner’s Club, Refae was one of the hundreds of other Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails who are sick and need urgent treatment. Israeli authorities deny all of them required treatment.
The Commission and the Prisoner’s Club noted that at least 11 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli prison since the beginning of the war in Gaza on October 7. Most of the deaths were caused due to medical negligence or due to abuses that Palestinian prisoners face inside Israeli prisons. Some Palestinian prisoners got sick and died after they were released from prison due to infections or injuries caused during their imprisonment.
Israeli occupation authorities have been often accused of medical negligence against Palestinian prisoners. In December 2022, 50-year-old Nasser Abu Hmeid was killed after prison authorities delayed transferring him to a hospital despite him being diagnosed with cancer.
Another Palestinian prisoner, 62-year-old Walid Daqqah has been denied adequate medical care inside the prison despite his advanced age and medical conditions and faces risk of death. Occupation authorities including the courts have refused to entertain the repeated appeals made by the rights groups for his release from prison.
According to the Commission and the Prisoner’s Club, a total of 248 Palestinians have been killed inside Israeli prisons since the beginning of the occupation.
The number of Palestinians in Israeli prison has more than doubled since October 7. There are over 9,000 of Palestinian political prisoners, including 200 children and 70 women, held in different Israeli prisons at the moment according to prison support and human rights association Addameer. More than one third of them are administrative detainees.
