The Israeli authorities refuse to return the body of a Palestinian prisoner and intellectual who died of cancer on April 7 after 38 years in prison, the official Palestinian news agency, Wafa, reported this Thursday. The prisoner, Walid Daqqa, had been sentenced to life in prison for the death of an Israeli soldier. He suffered from advanced bone marrow cancer, in urgent need of a transplant, but Israel did not allow him to be transferred to a specialized hospital or spend his remaining time with his family.
Israel’s Minister of National Security, the far-right and settler Itamar Ben Gvir, told the Israeli public broadcaster Kan that the reason for retaining Daqqa’s body was to avoid possible confrontations at his funeral.
During his long detention, the Palestinian wrote several books, studies and articles on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and the conditions of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.
The Israel Prison Service (IPS) denied Walid Daqqa access to a bone marrow transplant that could have saved his life after not allowing him admission to a civil hospital, Amnesty International reported in August 2023, which even then demanded his release. released for health reasons.
At least 14 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli prisons since October 7, according to data from the human rights group Adalah. The organization estimates that more than 9,300 Palestinians are in Israeli prisons, including some 3,600 in “administrative detention” without charge or trial.
