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Palestinian prisoner Saadi al-Gharably dies in Israeli prison

The 75-year-old from Gaza's Shejaiya neighbourhood had spent 26 years in Israel's prisons
Saadi al-Gharably, 75, had suffered from prostate cancer and medical negligence inside Israel's Eshel prison (Screengrab)

A Palestinian prisoner from the besieged Gaza Strip died on Monday in Eshel prison in Israel's southern Negev desert, the Palestinian Authority's Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees' Affairs and his family said.

Saadi al-Gharably, 75, suffered from a number of health conditions and his family accuse the Israeli prison authorities of negligence.

His son, Issam al-Gharably, told Middle East Eye that the family has been prevented from visiting him since 20o0.

"My father’s health conditions deteriorated due to the unhealthy treatment inside the occupation's prisons, which started with major diseases like diabetes, high blood pressure and weak heart muscle, to prostate cancer, which has spread to his weakened body and caused his death," he said.

'My father’s health conditions deteriorated due to the unhealthy treatment inside the occupation's prisons'

- Issam al-Gharably, son

The son said they have repeatedly called for an international or Palestinian medical committee to follow up on his father's condition, but been refused by the Israeli authorities. He accused medical centre of Ramlah prison of refusing to treat his father's condition.

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Gharabaly was from Gaza's Shejaiya neighbourhood and had spent 26 years in Israeli prisons after being convicted of killing an Israeli officer in Jaffa in 1994. "He spent a third of his life in prison," his son said.

Another son, Ahmed, was killed aged 20 during armed clashes when Israeli forces raided the city of Ramallah in 2002.

With Gharably's death, the number of Palestinians to have died in Israeli prisons has risen to 223.

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