Palestinian prisoner Walid Daqqa (Archive).

A spokesperson for the Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees in Gaza, Montaser Al-Naouq, said on Wednesday that the occupation is intentionally neglecting the health condition of Palestinian prisoner Walid Daqqa.

"يجب أن يقام تحرك غير مسبوق من أجل إنقاذ حياة الأسرى كالضغط على الإحتلال من كل الإتجاهات"
منتصر الناعوق المتحدث باسم وزارة الأسرى والمحررين في #غزة #فلسطين pic.twitter.com/StkwfkBqdd
— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) April 19, 2023

"27 out of 700 Palestinian prisoners suffer from cancer in light of the occupation's deliberate neglect of the prisoners' health conditions," Al-Naouq continued.

"يجب أن يقام تحرك غير مسبوق من أجل إنقاذ حياة الأسرى كالضغط على الإحتلال من كل الإتجاهات"
منتصر الناعوق المتحدث باسم وزارة الأسرى والمحررين في #غزة #فلسطين pic.twitter.com/StkwfkBqdd
— قناة الميادين (@AlMayadeenNews) April 19, 2023

He added that Daqqa "suffers from cancer and is in a difficult health state," stressing the need to pursue "all possible means to help and support the prisoners."

The Commission for Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners' Affairs' lawyer, Karim Ajwa, announced that Daqqa is in a critical state and still needs intensive healthcare.

Daqqa had been recently placed on respirators and anesthesia until Tuesday when the respirators were removed, and he woke up from his coma, but an oxygen tube is still placed to assist his breathing, the spokesperson said.

He explained that Daqqa has lost a significant amount of weight and suffers from difficulty speaking, noting that his voice can barely be heard anymore.

هيئة الاسرى: المحامي كريم عجوة يوضح الحالة الصحية للأسير وليد دقة https://t.co/DotsDh9YwP pic.twitter.com/1uq0m6t9DT
— هيئة شؤون الأسرى (@COMSNDetainees) April 18, 2023

Hunger strike day 74

On a similar note, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club announced on Sunday that hunger-striking prisoner Sheikh Khader Adnan has reached a very life-threatening stage of his hunger strike, which has now been ongoing for 74 days and is at risk of martyrdom at any moment.

The Wa'ed Prisoners Association contended that Sheikh Adnan's illness and potential martyrdom would be a crime at the hands of the Zionist regime and warned of repercussions.

The association also called for support and solidarity with Adnan to expose the maliciousness of his detention by the occupation.

'Old prisoners'

Also, the Palestine Center for Prisoner Studies revealed on Wednesday that 398 Palestinian prisoners have spent at least 40 holidays in occupation prisons, and most of them have spent 76 continuous holidays away from their family and loved ones.

The center said that prisoner Nael al-Barghouthi spent 68 consecutive holidays away from his family before he was released in the Wafaa Al-Ahrar deal in 2011, and then spent 18 holidays after his re-arrest in 2014, bringing the total number of holidays he experienced while in occupation prisons to 86 holidays.

Holidays and happy occasions aggravate the wounds of prisoners who spend decades behind bars, the center continued, as they imagine themselves every year celebrating Eid with their loved ones. But then they wake up to the painful reality, which leaves a negative impact on their psyche, especially on parents with children.

The center added that despite these painful feelings that the prisoners go through, they try every Eid to forget their suffering, and exchange blessings for Eid, distribute sweets, and wear the most beautiful clothes they own, chanting the Eid prayers.

Researcher Riyad Al-Ashqar, the director of the center, pointed out that these prisoners spent dozens of holidays without any of them being able to meet with their families and sit down at one table, or embrace their parents if they are still alive, as hundreds of them lost their loved ones while inside Israeli prisons.

Al-Ashqar explained that the deans of prisoners (longest-serving prisoners) are those who have spent more than 20 years continuously behind bars, and their numbers have recently increased to reach 398 prisoners, including 19 prisoners who have been arrested for more than thirty years, while 41 prisoners whose detention period exceeded more than a quarter of a century.

Also, among them are 23 prisoners, called "old prisoners," who have been detained since before the Oslo agreement, which the then-Palestinian authority signed with the occupation in 1994, consisting of Palestinians that were arrested during the first Intifada in 1987 and before that.

During Israeli talks with the Palestinian authorities in 2013, the old prisoners were supposed to be released, but the occupation refused to do so.

Al-Ashqar called on the Palestinian people and their factions to visit the homes of the prisoners and check up on their families on Eid and raise their spirits as they miss their loved ones on these blessed occasions.