Minister of detainees and ex-detainees affairs committee, Issa Qaraqe, says that the Israeli prison administration has decided to stop providing Palestinian prisoners with medication, under the pretext of an allegedly insufficient budget.Qaraqe told WAFA Palestinian News & Info Agency that prison service informed detainees that they have to buy their medicine from their private funds.
Israel’s Manual on the Laws of War (1998) provides that, “Prisoners must be administered proper medical care, at the expense of the detaining State and a monthly follow-up examination must be made of each detainee’s state of health. It is incumbent on the detaining State to provide the prisoners with sufficient food, drink and clothing,” reported the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).
Article 10 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) requires treating “All persons deprived of their liberty (with) humanity and respect for the inherent dignity of the human person.”
Geneva’s Common Article 3 requires “humane treatment for all persons in enemy hands, specifically prohibit(ing) murder, mutilation, torture, cruel, humiliating and degrading treatment (and) unfair trial(s).”
To be noted, Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails are subjected to a systematic policy of medical negligence by the prisons administration, further worsening their already precarious health conditions.
According to Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, “Israeli authorities are responsible for prisoners regularly neglect their duties to provide medical support for Palestinian prisoners in their care, as required by the Geneva Conventions.”
According to the Global Research website, “Treatment is often inadequate and is delivered after substantial delays. Often medication is limited to over-the-counter pain killers.”
It said, since 1967, dozens of Palestinian prisoners died from medical neglect, many of whom painfully over a prolonged period, which is a crime against humanity by all standard.
The number of sick prisoners detained in Israeli jails has reached 1500, of whom 80 prisoners are suffering from serious health problems and do not receive the necessary treatment; they suffer from malignant diseases, paralysis, and disabilities, in addition to cases of mental illness and neurological disorder.
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