Yousri al-Masri, a former Palestinian prisoner, was martyred on Saturday after an Israeli occupation airstrike targeted a tent in the al-Mashaala area south of Deir al-Balah in the central Gaza Strip, according to the Palestinian Prisoners' Media Office.

Al-Masri, 40, had been liberated from Israeli prisons in June 2023 after serving 20 years in detention. He was originally arrested on June 9, 2003, for his affiliation with the Palestinian Islamic Jihad movement and for his role in resistance operations against the occupation.

During his incarceration, al-Masri suffered from severe and chronic health complications, which were exacerbated by the Israeli regime’s policy of deliberate medical neglect.

Despite repeated appeals by human rights organizations for his release to receive urgent medical treatment, the Israeli occupation refused to grant him his freedom.

A plethora of medical issues

According to the Palestinian Prisoners' Media Office, al-Masri had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer, suffered from heart conditions, severe respiratory issues, and experienced significant deterioration in his vision. His case became emblematic of the Israeli occupation’s systematic medical negligence within its prison system.

Al-Masri was widely regarded as one of the most prominent victims of this policy and had become a symbol of steadfastness and resistance in the face of the occupation’s repressive practices.

His martyrdom further highlights the ongoing targeting of former detainees and resistance figures by the Israeli occupation, even after their liberation from prison.

Medical neglect kills Palestinian prisoners

The General Authority for Civil Affairs, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, and the Palestinian Prisoners Society announced in November the martyrdom of two Palestinian detainees who were held in Israeli occupation prisons: 61-year-old Samih Suleiman Muhammad Alawi, from Nablus, and 44-year-old Anwar Shaaban Muhammad Asleem, from Gaza.

The Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Prisoners Society emphasized in their statement that both Alawi and Asleem were victims of systematic crimes committed by the Israeli occupation through slow death and deliberate medical neglect, compounded by repeated abuse and continuous maltreatment of detainees.

The statement added that such crimes are part of a long-standing policy of the occupation against Palestinian detainees, ranging from torture to medical neglect, leaving them to suffer and succumb to illnesses.

It noted the increasing crimes against Palestinian detainees, particularly amid the ongoing genocidal war on Gaza. Many sick detainees have seen their conditions worsen, with the occupation refusing to provide treatment, further increasing the death toll among detainees.