A Palestinian doctor known as the “doctor of the poor” says he suffered medical neglect, overcrowding and physical abuse while held in Israel’s Ofer prison, according to a new report by Haaretz.
Mazen Rantisi often waives consultation fees for low-income Palestinians. He was arrested at home on June 21 and indicted for serving as chairman of the board of the Union of Health Work Committees. The committee is a nonprofit that provides medical care to thousands of Palestinians each year.
According to testimony he gave to an attorney from the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Rantisi said that prison authorities withheld his regular medication for the first 10 days of his detention in Ofer prison and continue to deny him one of his prescribed medicines.
He said repeated requests to see a doctor were ignored, with a medic checking his pulse only once through a small opening in his cell door.
Rantisi also alleged routine violence by prison guards, saying prison units had raided his cell several times a week and beat detainees.
“The younger prisoners surround me to protect me, taking the beatings themselves,” he said.
He added that guards sprayed tear gas into the cell during one raid, which left him struggling to breathe.
Saja Mishraki-Baransa, the first lawyer to meet Rantisi in person since his arrest, told Haaretz that the physician had lost a significant amount of weight since his arrest.
Rantisi said he receives small food portions — which he described as unfit for human consumption — including moldy bread, almost rotten tomatoes and foul-smelling rice.
He added that 10 prisoners share his six-bed cell, forcing four detainees to sleep in shifts on mattresses on the floor. He described poor hygiene conditions, saying prisoners receive no cleaning supplies and share a single bar of soap to wash themselves and their clothes. He added that guards take the mattresses out and hose them down, breeding mold. The overcrowded cell is infested with pests like fleas and gnats, Rantisi said.
The Israel Prison Service rejected the allegations, saying detainees are held in accordance with Israeli law.
Rantisi’s account echoes complaints raised by other Palestinian detainees. A report by Israel’s Public Defender’s Office published last year warned of a “significant deterioration” in prison conditions amid an “unprecedented violation of the rights of detainees and prisoners.”
