Palestinian prisoner Sami Abed al-Amour, 39, has passed away in Israeli custody at Soroka Medical Center on Thursday morning, 18 November 2021. According to the Palestinian Prisoners Society, Al-Amour was transferred to the hospital from Ashkelon Prison on Tuesday, 16 November, after his health condition deteriorated.

From the Gaza Strip, Al-Amour was arrested at his house during an Israeli invasion in 2008 and was sentenced to 19 years in prison.   

Although Al-Amour suffered from congenital heart problems, he did not reportedly received adequate health care during his 13-year detention. The Palestinian Prisoners Society indicates that by the time the Israeli Prison Service (IPS) transferred Al-Amour to the hospital where he underwent heart surgery on Tuesday, his condition had already severely deteriorated. He was pronounced dead early Thursday morning. Al-Amour’s family—who was banned from visiting him for more than five years—was informed of his death by representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross.         

The situation of Al-Amour is similar to that of many Palestinian prisoners who face severe health consequences and even threats to life due to Israel’s pervasive policy of medical negligence as part of the appalling detention conditions and systematic human rights violations endured by Palestinian inmates in Israeli facilities. According to the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, with Al-Amour’s death, the number of Palestinian prisoners who have died in Israeli prisons since 1967 is 227. Notably, even after their release, hundreds of former Palestinian prisoners died from serious medical conditions they developed while in Israeli custody.  

Al Mezan maintains that Israel’s treatment of Palestinian prisoners and detainees—marked by solitary confinement, deliberate medical negligence, naked inspections, verbal and corporal abuse, and denial of visitation—violates international law and the legal protections guaranteed to persons deprived of their liberty under international human rights and humanitarian law. 

Al Mezan holds Israel responsible for Al-Amour’s death and reiterates its strongest condemnation of the repeated Israeli human rights violations, including arbitrary detention, against Palestinian prisoners and detainees. To this end, the international community must take action to ensure Israel’s respect for international law. As in all cases concerning Israeli violations against Palestinians in its custody, the international community is also urged to investigate Al-Amour’s death and the circumstances of his detention.