Palestinian prisoners facing death in Israeli prisons: Official

A senior Palestinian official has warned that many of the sick Palestinians held in Israeli jails are now in life-threatening conditions due to medical negligence.

Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Qaraqi said on Saturday the number of sick prisoners has now reached nearly 1,500.

He said that Israeli prisons “have turned into their graves.”

Qaraqi said scores of Palestinian prisoners are likely to die because Israeli guards deliberately refuse to give them medicine, adding, “Prisoners are semi-alive and are suffering from extremely dangerous health conditions.”

Palestinian sources say more than 30 percent of the prisoners, who have lost their lives either in Israeli jails or shortly after their release, suffered serious illnesses.

The warning came a day after Rami al-Alami, who supervises Palestinian children at the Ofer Israeli military prison, said that around 100 Palestinian children being held in Israeli jails are in need of medical and psychological attention as they are being kept in bad conditions and being abused and tortured by the Israeli guards.

Reports say over 7,000 Palestinians, including 250 children, are being held in Israeli jails.

Hundreds of the Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli prisons for a long time without trial while they are not even provided with their basic needs, including visiting family members.

Palestinian human rights groups say the number of Palestinians in Israeli administrative detention has reached the highest level since 2008.

Administrative detention is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians for up to six months. The detention order can be renewed for indefinite periods of time.