Detainee Mahmoud Abdullah martyred after being denied cancer treatment
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Mahmoud Talal Abdullah, a Palestinian prisoner from Jenin camp, has died in Israeli custody after being denied proper medical treatment.
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Martyr Mahmoud Talal Abdullah in an undated photo (Social Media)
Detainee Mahmoud Talal Abdullah, from the Jenin refugee camp, was martyred at 49 in "Israel's" Assaf Harofeh Hospital after being denied medical treatment for advanced-stage cancer, the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Authority and Palestinian Prisoners Club announced.
Abdullah was detained on February 1 and was later diagnosed with advanced-stage cancer. Despite his rapidly deteriorating health and critical condition, he was moved to several Israeli prisons, notorious for their brutal treatment and torture of Palestinian detainees, including Megiddo and Gilboa.
He was lastly moved to the Ramla prison clinic, and arrived to Assaf Harofeh Hospital only a day before he was martyred.
The cancer patient prisoner Mahmoud Talal Abdullah from Jenin refugee camp has died inside the occupation’s prisons. pic.twitter.com/bJmsr71oAh
— Eye on Palestine (@EyeonPalestine) October 19, 2025
History of detention and health neglect
A freed then imprisoned detainee, Abdullah was previously arrested during the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2002 and spent two years in occupation jails. Before his latest arrest, he had been receiving medical treatment for pre-existing conditions, which were abrupty cut off upon his detention by the Israeli occupation.
The Palestinian Prisoners Club and the Prisoners’ Affairs Authority said Abdullah’s death was part of a deliberate policy of medical negligence and "slow killing" practiced by Israeli authorities against Palestinian detainees.
79 martyrs in Israeli prisons since Oct. 7
With Abdullah’s passing, the number of confirmed martyrs from the prisoner movement and detainees since the beginning of the ongoing war has risen to 79. The number limited to those whose identities have been verified. Dozens more remain victims of enforced disappearance and abduction.
This current phase has witnessed the highest recorded death toll among Palestinian detainees since 1967, with 316 martyrs confirmed so far. The occupation continues to withhold the bodies of 87 prisoners, 76 of whom were killed after the war began.
Crimes against humanity
The two institutions emphasized that what is happening inside the occupation’s prisons is a continuation of systematic torture, deprivation, and humiliation. They asserted that Abdullah’s death constitutes part of an ongoing policy of war crimes against prisoners, with testimonies from hundreds of released detainees documenting severe abuses, including torture, starvation, physical and sexual assault, and medical neglect.
The situation inside prisons remains dire, with thousands of Palestinian detainees held in inhumane conditions, suffering from the spread of disease and the complete absence of basic human necessities.
The statement further noted the documented field executions of detainees, pointing to photos of bodies returned after the ceasefire as irrefutable evidence of the atrocities being committed. The continuation of enforced disappearances and denial of medical care has raised fears of a rising toll in the coming weeks.
Read more: Freed Palestinian journalist details torture in Israeli prisons
