RAMALLAH (Palestine Foundation Information Center) The General Authority for Civil Affairs has informed the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society about the martyrdom of two prisoners in the Israeli occupation’s prisons: Samih Suleiman Muhammad Aliwi (61 years old) from Nablus, and Anwar Shaaban Muhammad Asleem (44 years old) from Gaza.
The Commission and the Society announced today, Friday, that martyr Aliwi, based on available information, was martyred on November 6, 2024, six days after being transferred from the Ramla prison clinic to Assaf Harofeh Hospital. It is noted that he was previously detained in the Negev prison before being moved to Ramla, and the prison administration did not announce his martyrdom, despite being obligated to do so. Martyr Anwar Asleem passed away yesterday, November 14, 2024, during his transfer from the Negev prison to Soroka Hospital, following a deterioration in his health condition.
In a joint statement, the Commission and the Society clarified that prisoner Aliwi had been held administratively since October 21, 2023. Based on a visit conducted by a lawyer from the Commission on August 21, 2024, in the Negev prison, it was reported that he suffered from several health issues prior to his arrest due to a benign tumor in his intestines years ago. As for prisoner Anwar Asleem from Gaza, he has been detained since December 8, 2023, and his family reported that he did not have any health problems before his arrest.
Regarding the details of the visit to prisoner Aliwi in August, he informed the lawyer that he was suffering from serious health conditions before his arrest and had undergone several surgeries, during which part of his intestines was removed due to the benign tumor. He was supposed to undergo another surgery in December 2023, but this did not take place due to his detention, worsening his health situation.
He also confirmed to the lawyer that, like many prisoners, he had been subjected to mistreatment and repeated assaults, especially during his transfer to the clinic. Despite his illness and difficult health condition, he was taken out to the clinic while handcuffed and mistreated. He added that he had lost more than 40 kg since the date of the visit and could no longer eat the small portions of food provided to them. He also noted that he had not received any medical treatment at all since his arrest, despite the intervention of specialized human rights organizations to pressure the prison administration to provide him with treatment, which did not happen. In the visit report, the lawyer noted that the prisoner refused to shave his head and beard until his release.
The prisoner Aliwi is a former detainee who spent a total of around ten years in the occupation’s prisons, with his arrest journey beginning in 1988. He is married and a father of nine children. Likewise, prisoner Asleem is married and a father of four children.
The Commission and the Society affirmed that both Aliwi and Asleem have been subjected to torture, medical neglect, and starvation similar to all other Palestinian prisoners. These crimes have been central reasons for the martyrdom of dozens of prisoners and detainees since the beginning of the Israeli war of genocide on Gaza on October 7, 2023.
After more than 400 days of genocide against our people in Gaza, crimes against prisoners and detainees are on the rise. Time is a crucial factor in determining the fate of prisoners; many sick prisoners who endured the occupation’s actions and crimes at the beginning of the war no longer have the strength to do so today. Their health conditions are clearly deteriorating, and many healthy prisoners have become ill. This is evident daily through visits, court sessions, and testimonies from released prisoners, as the crimes of the occupation against prisoners represent one aspect of the genocide and a form of it.
The Commission and the Society previously announced that prisoners in the Negev prison are facing a worsening health disaster due to the spread of scabies, with hundreds infected among them. This is a model for other central prisons where the disease has spread significantly in recent months, as the prison administration has turned scabies into a tool of torture, mistreatment, and death.
They pointed out that the continuing catastrophic conditions faced by prisoners, particularly the sick and injured, will undoubtedly lead to the martyrdom of more prisoners in the occupation’s prisons and camps. The specialized institutions can no longer keep track of the number of sick prisoners due to the spread of diseases among them and the detention of more injured individuals.
They held the occupation fully responsible for the martyrdom of prisoners Aliwi and Asleem, adding this crime to the ongoing record of unprecedented crimes since the beginning of the genocide, “which has been the bloodiest phase in the history of our resilient people. The number of martyr prisoners is historically the highest compared to previous phases marked by uprisings and popular movements in Palestine.”
They noted that with the martyrdom of prisoners Aliwi and Asleem, the number of identified martyr prisoners since 1967 has risen to 280, in addition to dozens of martyr prisoners whose identities and circumstances of martyrdom the occupation continues to hide, as well as other detainees subjected to execution. Since October 7 last year, the number of martyr prisoners whose identities have been announced by specialized institutions has risen to 43.
They renewed their call on the international human rights organizations to end their silence regarding the war crimes and the crimes against humanity being committed against prisoners and detainees in Israeli occupation prisons.
The number of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails recognized by the prison administration exceeds 10,200. The crime of enforced disappearance continues to be imposed on hundreds of detainees from Gaza in the occupation’s military camps. Among the prisoners are 96 women and at least 270 children, along with 3,443 administrative detainees, including 31 women and 100 children.
