Cancer-stricken prisoner Walid Daqqa urgently transferred to hospital

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The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees announced on Monday that cancer-stricken prisoner Walid Daqqa was urgently transferred to "Assaf Harofeh" Hospital.

Last week, Palestinian prisoners carried out a one-day hunger strike to demand the release of the cancer-stricken prisoner amid the continued deterioration of his health condition.

The Palestinian Prisoners Information Office said Daqqa is still suffering from a deteriorating health condition.

The office pointed out that the Israeli occupation pursues its crime of slow killing against Daqqa, 60, from the town of Baqa Al-Gharbia in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948.

The office stressed that the Palestinian prisoner needs intensive health care, adding that the Israeli occupation refuses to release him despite the fact that he is suffering from cancer.

Daqqa's wife, Sanaa Salameh, urged all concerned authorities to intervene in the prisoner's case, adding that there is a legal path for his release due to his deteriorating health condition.

She also noted that the Israeli occupation has made visits and communication with Daqqa extremely difficult.

A couple of weeks ago, the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainess in Gaza considered that the transfer of Daqqa to the "Ramla" prison clinic, in light of the seriousness of his health condition, confirms the occupation's insistence on its continuous crime of killing the prisoner in a slow and systematic manner.

The Palestinian Waed Prisoners Association said the Israeli occupation "took a clear-cut decision to execute and kill prisoner Walid Daqqa with cold blood without caring for all the calls regarding his freedom nor his reception of treatment to help ease his extreme pain."

The Association pointed out that the prisoner needs intensive health follow-up after he underwent an operation to extract part of his lung, as a result of severe infection.

Who is Walid Daqqa?

Walid Daqqa has been detained since 1986 and was sentenced to life imprisonment on charges of resisting the occupation. His sentence was later decreased to 37 years.

In 2018, two years were added to his sentence, and a few years ago, his wife, Sanaa Salameh, was able to give birth to their daughter, Milad, after smuggling Daqqa's sperm from prison.

Daqqa is considered one of the most prominent writers and thinkers of the Palestinian Captive Movement.

Until the end of last April, the number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons reached nearly 4,900, including 32 female prisoners and 170 minors.

As for ill prisoners, they numbered 700 prisoners suffering from several diseases, including 24 prisoners with cancer and tumors of varying degrees.

Read more: Israelis deliberately neglecting Daqqa's health: Detainees Ministry