The Israeli occupation authorities today handed over the body of Palestinian prisoner Daoud al-Khatib -- who died while in custody last September -- to his family in the city of Bethlehem, south of the occupied West Bank.

Al-Khatib is expected to be buried in his hometown village of Al-Ebayat, just near Bethlehem, following a military funeral tomorrow.

Al-Khatib, 45, died of a heart attack in the notorious Israeli detention facility of Ofer, west of Ramallah, on September 2, only a few months before the end of his 18-year sentence.

He was due to be released on December 4, 2020, after being sentenced to 18 years in prison for his activism in the resistance of the Israeli occupation.

According to the Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS), Khatib had a heart attack in 2017 in Israeli custody and underwent an open-heart surgery shortly thereafter, but the dismal health conditions in prison combined with medical negligence by the Israel Prison Services have contributed to the deterioration of his health until his death.

An autopsy carried out to the body of al-Khatib revealed that he died of a severe heart failure resulting from cardiomyopathy and coronary artery disease, aggravated by the Israeli policy of medical negligence towards Palestinian prisoners.

 

Source: Wafa News Agency