Palestinian Prisoner Dies of Israeli Medical Negligence

Procession held in Gaza for prisoner Saadi al-Gharably who died in an Israeli prison. AFP
Procession held in Gaza for prisoner Saadi al-Gharably who died in an Israeli prison. AFP
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Palestinian Prisoner Dies of Israeli Medical Negligence

Procession held in Gaza for prisoner Saadi al-Gharably who died in an Israeli prison. AFP
Procession held in Gaza for prisoner Saadi al-Gharably who died in an Israeli prison. AFP

The Palestinian Society Prisoner's Club announced that a Palestinian inmate, who has been in detention for 26 years, died on Wednesday of medical negligence.

The Club stated that Saadi al-Gharably, 75, died at Kaplan medical center after his health deteriorated due to mainly medical negligence.

Gharably had been sent to solitary confinement which aggravated his health condition.

A spokesman for the Israeli Prison Authority stated that Gharably was transferred Sunday to the Prison Authority Medical Center after his health deteriorated, and he died on Wednesday.

The prisoner suffered from a terminal illness and had been serving a life sentence since 1994 for killing an Israeli, added the spokesman.

Gharably is the second Palestinian prisoner who has died in Israeli prisons this year, after Nour Barghouti, 23, passed away in the Negev Prison for unknown reasons.

The head of the Palestinian Authority Prisoners' Affairs Commission, Qadri Abu Bakr, issued a statement indicating that the ongoing medical negligence will lead to the death of more inmates.

Abu Bakr called on international legal and rights institutions, especially the United Nations, to stop the crimes against the prisoners, saying the Prison Administration is fully responsible for “Gharably’s martyrdom.”

The Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) said the incident is another crime against prisoners.

Member of the Executive Committee Wasel Abu Yousef urged the international community to pressure Israel to release the prisoners, especially the sick, the elderly, women, and children.

Hamas stressed that the crime against Gharably will only increase the determination of all Palestinian prisoners, while Islamic Jihad warned that medical negligence threaten the lives of other prisoners who are at risk of death at any moment due to this aggressive policy.

Palestinians say Israel’s policy of medical negligence has killed over 69 prisoners since 1967.



WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
TT

WHO Sends Over 1 Mln Polio Vaccines to Gaza to Protect Children 

Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)
Displaced Palestinians, who fled their houses due to Israeli strikes, look out from a window as they take shelter, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip, July 24, 2024. (Reuters)

The World Health Organization is sending more than one million polio vaccines to Gaza to be administered over the coming weeks to prevent children being infected after the virus was detected in sewage samples, its chief said on Friday.

"While no cases of polio have been recorded yet, without immediate action, it is just a matter of time before it reaches the thousands of children who have been left unprotected," Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said in an opinion piece in Britain's The Guardian newspaper.

He wrote that children under five were most at risk from the viral disease, and especially infants under two since normal vaccination campaigns have been disrupted by more than nine months of conflict.

Poliomyelitis, which is spread mainly through the fecal-oral route, is a highly infectious virus that can invade the nervous system and cause paralysis. Cases of polio have declined by 99% worldwide since 1988 thanks to mass vaccination campaigns and efforts continue to eradicate it completely.

Israel's military said on Sunday it would start offering the polio vaccine to soldiers serving in the Gaza Strip after remnants of the virus were found in test samples in the enclave.

Besides polio, the UN reported last week a widespread increase in cases of Hepatitis A, dysentery and gastroenteritis as sanitary conditions deteriorate in Gaza, with sewage spilling into the streets near some camps for displaced people.