Around 4,600 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons sent back their food on Wednesday in protest of a recent death of an inmate, reports The Jerusalem Post.com.
The inmate in question, 63-year-old Maissara Abu Hamdiyeh, reportedly died of cancer as stated in the autopsy. He was convicted and serving a life sentence for his part in a thwarted plot to blow up an Israeli restaurant.
Hamdiyeh's autopsy was performed at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir in Tel Aviv in the presence of a Palestinian observer. They found a malignant growth in his throat, which spread throughout his body.
The report also included that Hamdiyeh was a heavy smoker.
Following the autopsy, his body was transferred to the Palestinian Authority for burial, which will take place on Thursday. More protests and violence are expected at the ceremony.
However, the PA is blaming Israeli medical negligence as the reason for the inmate's death, which has enraged Palestinians in Hebron and elsewhere across the West Bank, east Jerusalem and other Israeli prisons.
The Prisons Service district commander, Gondar Nasim Sabiti, told Channel 2 a different story, saying they worked with the prisoner to arrange an early release due to his terminal cancer and transferred him to a hospital.
That news did not calm protestors though, as riots immediately ensued in the prison.
"...After news of Hamdiyeh's death on Tuesday made its way to the security prisoners, a number of them began slamming on their cell doors and throwing trash in a number of security blocks at prisons across the country," the JPost reported.
The Prime Minister's Office responded by saying that Palestinian's are using his cancer-related death as an excuse to spark anger and protests.
"Unfortunately the Palestinian Authority is seeking to take advantage of the prisoner Hamdiyeh's death in order to escalate the situation," wrote Ofer Gendelman on his Twitter account. He is Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu's spokesman to the Arabic press.
