Islamic Jihad Condemns Israeli Policy of Gradually Killing Palestinian Prisoners

Islamic Jihad made the statement following the killing of Abu Mahameed, 40, who died as a result of deliberate medical negligence at an Israeli hospital.   

The statement said that Israeli crimes against prisoners and detainees are intensifying and that Israel is systematically violating their legitimate rights to life.

The statement added that the martyrdom of Abu Mahameed inside an Israeli prison reveals the regime’s criminal acts against Palestinian detainees.

It further urged relevant human rights institutions to take a firm stance on the issue of Palestinian prisoners and assume their responsibility in this regard.

Earlier, Hamas reacted to the death of the prisoner, calling it a crime.

Abu Mahameed, a resident of Beit Ta’mar in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, was arrested about two months ago in good health as he attempted to enter al-Quds for work. Israeli forces claimed he did not have a work permit at the time.

According to his family, the Palestinian inmate was suffering from a neurological disorder before his arrest, and his condition deteriorated in jail. He was transferred to Assaf Horveh Hospital at the beginning of August after his health declined significantly.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said that the targeting of Palestinians under the pretext they had entered Israeli-occupied territories without a permit has "escalated" since the beginning of the year, not only through arrests but also through direct killings.

Abu Mahameed’s death came two days after around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners launched an indefinite mass hunger strike in Israeli prisons across the occupied territories in protest against the regime’s custodial repression under the so-called administrative detention policy.

There are reportedly more than 7,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails. Hundreds of the inmates have been apparently incarcerated under the practice of administrative detention.

Human rights organizations say Israel violates all the rights and freedoms granted to prisoners by the Fourth Geneva Convention. They say administrative detention violates their right to due process since the evidence is withheld from prisoners while they are held for lengthy periods without being charged, tried, or convicted.

Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes in an attempt to express outrage at their detention. Israeli jail authorities keep Palestinian prisoners under deplorable conditions without proper hygienic standards. Palestinian inmates have also been subject to systematic torture, harassment, and repression.