RAMALLAH (Palestine Foundation Information Center) A few months after his release from an Israeli jail, ex-detainee Farouk al-Khatib, a 30-year-old from Abu Shukheidim town in Ramallah, died of cancer in a Palestinian hospital on Monday.
Khatib was released about five months ago while suffering from life-threatening health issues, including cancer, due to his exposure to abuse and medical neglect during his detention.
Khatib had been kidnapped in August 2023 and was soon later administratively jailed for six months, but he was released earlier on December 20 due to his serious health condition.
In 2020, he was diagnosed with a slow heart rate (bradycardia), but Khatib did not suffer from cancer when he was detained
His family affirmed that the Israeli prison authority deprived him of medication and treatment and provided him with poor food until his body became a skeleton, adding that he was savagely beaten in his chest and abdomen during his transfer from Ofer jail to another one by Israeli forces a few days following the October 7 events of 2023.
Later, he suffered from acute dehydration and severe pains in his intestines that developed into intestinal cancer before he underwent surgery to remove parts of his intestines. Following the operation, he was exposed to deliberate medical neglect in his detention, according to the family.
Khatib died leaving behind his wife and daughter. He had been detained in 2019 and jailed for four years on allegations of his affiliation with the Hamas Movement, but he was released in November 2022.
