RAMALLAH, Thursday, May 2, 2024 (WAFA) – Israeli Occupation Army Minister Yoav Galant refused to release the body of the slain Palestinian prisoner Walid Daqqa who died on April 7 in the Israeli Assaf Harofeh Hospital after years of deliberate medical negligence by the Israeli prison administration.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority reported that the extremist Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Len-Gvir, justified Gallant's refusal to release the body of Daqqa, "for fear of the outbreak of confrontations during the funeral ceremony, in the midst of the ongoing Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip."
The Commission and PPS described the death of Daqqa as part of the "slow killing" policy followed by the Israeli prison administration against sick prisoners.
The health condition of Daqqa has deteriorated since March last year; three months before his previous release date after suffering from severe pneumonia and acute kidney failure, in addition to being diagnosed with myelofibrosis cancer on December 18, 2022.
Myelofibrosis is a rare cancer of the bone marrow, which developed from leukemia that was diagnosed about ten years ago and left without proper treatment.
In April last year, Daqqa underwent surgery in which part of his right lung was removed, then he was transferred to the Ramla Prison Clinic.
On May 22, he suffered further deterioration and was transferred to Assaf Harofeh Hospital due to complications of the lung removal process, which caused very severe respiratory suffocation and infection.
After his transfer to the hospital, he underwent a catheterization procedure due to noticeable heart failure. Three days later, the prison authority returned him to the “Ramla Prison Clinic”, which caused him further deterioration. He was transferred again to Assaf Harofeh Hospital and then returned to Ramla prison.
During Daqqa’s long detention, he produced many books, studies, and articles, and contributed cognitively to understanding the prison experience and its resistance.
He was subjected to several abusive policies against the backdrop of his knowledge productions in particular. The occupation's prison administration sought to seize his writings and private books. He also faced solitary confinement and arbitrary transfer.
Daqqa is one of 19 Palestinians who have spent more than 30 years in Israeli occupation prisons and one of 23 Palestinians who have been incarcerated since before the Oslo Accords.
The death toll of Palestinians in the occupation prisons has risen to 14 since the start of the aggression against the Palestinian people on October 7 last year. Since 1967, 251 prisoners died in Israeli custody.
The occupation authorities are holding the bodies of 26 slain Palestinians who died in custody.
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