Palestinian political prisoner Nasser Abu Hmeid, 50, died in Israeli custody on Tuesday morning, following a bout with cancer and months of “medical negligence” on the part of Israeli authorities, according to his family and Palestinian prisoners groups.
Abu Hmeid, who was born and raised in the al-Amari refugee camp in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, fell ill last year and was diagnosed with lung cancer in August 2021.
Palestinian prisoners’ rights groups said at the time that the cancer had developed into its late stages and has spread to other areas of his body, including his brain, as a result of “deliberate medical negligence” by the Israeli Prison Service and its “failure to deal with his health condition at an earlier stage.”
Since his diagnosis last year, Abu Hmeid had undergone at least one operation and other treatments for his cancer. Earlier this year he fell into a brief coma, sparking a campaign by his family and local groups demanding his release to receive treatment outside Israeli custody.
Wafa News reported that in September, doctors issued a medical report recommending Abu Hmeid’s immediate release, “expecting his death at any time,” but the request was denied. After several rejected requests, an Israeli district court denied the family’s appeal in October.
Abu Hmeid was rushed to an Israeli hospital last week after his condition worsened. Local Palestinian media outlets reported that he fell into a coma on Monday evening, and passed away Tuesday morning. His mother, Latefa Abu Hmeid, known also as Umm Nasser (‘Mother of Nasser’), was reportedly in the process of applying for an Israeli permit to visit her son when he died.
Speaking to journalists on Tuesday morning, Latefa said: “He dedicated years of his life to the struggle, and for Jerusalem. He said he wanted to go be with the martyrs, and be with Abed al-Min’im,” she said, referring to Abu Hmeid’s brother who was killed by Israeli forces in 1994.
“Even in his martyrdom he was strong,” she said. “This is his destiny, and the destiny of the Palestinian people. As long as there is an enemy and occupier, there will be prisoners and martyrs.”
A lifetime of prison, martyrs, and home demolitions
Following the news of Abu Hmeid’s death, the Fatah movement, of which Abu Hmeid was a prominent leader, called for a general strike in the West Bank in mourning over the “heroic fighter and martyr.”
Palestinians took to the streets in Ramallah, Tulkarem, and Gaza City in protest over Abu Hmeid’s death, while businesses, schools, and government offices shut down for the day.
Abu Hmeid was a member of Fatah’s armed wing, the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, and was active in armed resistance in the First and Second Intifadas. In 2002 he was convicted by an Israeli court and sentenced to seven life sentences plus 50 years.
Four of Abu Hmeid’s brothers are also currently serving life sentences in Israeli prisons, the youngest of which, Islam, was arrested and convicted in 2018.
The Abu Hmeid family home has been punitively demolished by Israel three times — once in 1991, 2003, and 2018 — as punishment for Latefa’s sons’ resistance activities. Rights groups have condemned the policy of punitive home demolitions as “court-sanctioned revenge” amounting to collective punishment, a violation of international law.
In 2018, following the arrest of her son Islam, she told Middle East Eye that she and the rest of her family were banned from visiting her sons in jail. At the time, she told MEE in an interview, “all of my sons have been arrested at some point for their resistance. I can’t count how many times our home has been raided by the Israelis and how many times they have beaten and tried to humiliate us.”
“People may call them terrorists, but I am proud of them for defending their country. The Israelis are the terrorists who have invaded and occupied our land. My sons, and everyone in Palestine has the right to resist their oppressors,” she said.
Medical negligence
Along with Abu Hmeid’s family, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and the Palestinian Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission have maintained that the IPS deliberately denied Abu Hmeid proper medical treatment for years, which led to such a late diagnosis of his cancer.
Following his death on Tuesday, Palestinian Prime Minister Mohammed Shtayyeh said in a statement that Abu Hmeid “died as a result of the policy of deliberate medical negligence that the Israeli occupation prisons administration use against sick prisoners,” he said in a statement.
While IPS has denied the allegations, saying Abu Hmeid “received regular and close care from IPS medical staff and external professionals,” rights groups have pointed to a longstanding policy of medical negligence by IPS in Israeli prisons.
Prisoners’ rights group Addameer has said the poor environment in Israeli prisons, coupled with neglect from prison officials when it comes to the health and personal hygiene needs of prisoners, has contributed to a rise in the number of illnesses over the years.
“There is a policy of medical neglect and the continuation of the forces of the prison service in denying their responsibility in providing appropriate health care, and periodic medical checkups for prisoners and detainees,” Addameer said in a 2016 report, in which the group documented dozens of cases of prisoners who reported medical neglect on part of prison doctors, along with physical and mental abuse as well as torture from prison authorities.
According to PPS, there are currently 600 Palestinian prisoners who are suffering from various illnesses, among them around two dozen cancer patients. Since 1967, 233 Palestinian prisoners have died inside Israeli prisons. Among them, PPS has documented 74 cases of deaths caused by medical negligence.
Additionally, Israel has a policy of withholding the bodies of deceased Palestinian prisoners after their death, refusing to release their bodies to their families for burial. PPS has recorded 10 cases of prisoners who died in Israeli custody and whose bodies were never returned to their families, including a case as early as 1980.
As of Tuesday afternoon, Abu Hmeid’s body had still not been returned to his family for burial.
His mother was in the process of applying for a permit to visit him…… and possibly won’t even be allowed to bury him. How cruel, and how petty. All necessary for national security, no doubt.