Palestinian sources have warned that the health of prisoner Nasser Abu Hamid, who is currently being held in Ramla prison clinic, northwest of Jerusalem, has deteriorated. “The risk to his health has increased over the last period”, the same sources report. Abu Hamid is suffering from cancer.
“Recent tests have shown that there is a risk of cancer spreading to other parts of Abu Hamid’s body, after having spread to his lungs”, the source continued.
“Abu Hamid is suffering continuous dizziness, vomiting, and is unable to eat. He increasingly requires supplemental oxygen.”
“No date has been set for future chemotherapy sessions, which were interrupted after his health deteriorated in Barzilai Hospital, in Israel, several months ago.”
Abu Hamid “is undergoing therapy in order to restore movement to his hands and feet, whilst his brother Muhammad, also a detainee, who has accompanied him since his transfer to Ramla, is working to restore [Nasser’s] memory, since he remembers only with great difficulty.”
Abu Hamid’s health began deteriorating in August 2021, when he began to suffer from chest pains, after which a tumour was found in his lung, some of which was removed in October that year. He was then transferred to Ashkelon prison, which worsened his condition, and delayed his chemotherapy.
Nasser Abu Hamid, 49 years-old, from al-Am‘ari camp, has been detained since 2002, after he was sentenced to seven life terms, or 50 years in prison, on charges relating to his role in establishing the al-Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades.
Nasser is one of five brothers serving a life sentence in Israeli prisons. Israeli occupation forces have demolished their family home on numerous occasions. Their mother has been refused visitation for years.
According to Palestinian prisoner affairs groups, the number of Palestinian prisoners suffering from long-term illness in Israeli prisons is approximately 550. Since 1967, the number of prisoners who have died as a result of medical neglect in prison stands at 71, of 226 who have died in the occupation’s prisons since that year.
