Al-Jazeera correspondent said that a general strike was carried out in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, paralyzing all aspects of Palestinian public and official life, in protest of the death of prisoner Nasser Abu Hamid as a result of medical negligence by the occupation.

The Palestinian Authority for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs announced the death of the prisoner, Nasser Abu Hamid, 50, in the Israeli Assaf Harofeh Hospital, as a result of his deteriorating health due to lung cancer more than a year ago.

The authority held the occupation government fully responsible for his death due to what it described as the policy of deliberate medical negligence that the occupation prison administration follows with the prisoners.

The Palestinian territories were blackened to mourn the death of the prisoner Nasser Abu Hamid, and several governorates announced a comprehensive strike to condemn the policy of medical negligence by the occupation.

Local media reported that the strike included the governorates of Ramallah, Al-Bireh, Hebron, Bethlehem, Nablus, Jerusalem and Gaza.

Calls were also made for mass rallies to mourn his death.

Who is Abu Hamid?

Abu Hamid, who was considered one of the field leaders of the Fatah movement, was arrested from the Al-Amari camp in 2002 following the outbreak of the armed Palestinian uprising in 2000. He was sentenced to life imprisonment 7 times, plus 50 years for carrying out attacks on Israeli targets.

During the trial of Fatah leader Marwan Al-Barghouti, Abu Hamid refused to testify against Al-Barghouti in court.

Abu Hamid is one of 5 brothers sentenced to life imprisonment, in addition to a sixth brother who was killed during a clash with the Israeli occupation forces in 1994.

Israel demolished the homes of these people, so they moved to other houses that were demolished.

After Abu Hamid's condition deteriorated, his family was allowed to visit him on Monday night in a hospital inside Israel.

It was reported from its members that Abu Hamid was dying after they were forbidden to visit him.

Latifa Abu Hamid, Nasser's mother, said, "We thank God because he chose a martyr among us, and thank God we were able to visit him to say farewell to him. It was a difficult meeting, but thank God...we were lucky to see him before his death and bid him farewell."

Palestinian condemnation

In the first Palestinian reactions, the Palestinian Prime Minister, Muhammad Shtayyeh, held the Israeli occupation responsible for the death of the prisoner, Nasser Abu Hamid, in Israeli detention.

Shtayyeh called on the International Committee of the Red Cross to intervene in order to release sick prisoners, the elderly, female prisoners and children from the occupation prisons.

As for the Palestinian Foreign Ministry, it said that there is a continuous international movement to release the body of the martyred prisoner, Nasser Abu Hamid, so that his family can bury him.

In turn, Hamas confirmed that the martyrdom of Abu Hamid is a major crime committed by the occupation against the prisoners and the Palestinian people.

She believed that the policy of medical negligence "reveals the extent of the Zionist Prison Service's terrorism and Nazism against prisoners."

The Islamic Jihad movement also held the occupation authorities fully responsible for the repercussions of the martyrdom of the prisoner Nasser Abu Hamid, and the movement called on human rights and humanitarian institutions to stand by the prisoners.

For its part, the family of the martyr Nasser Abu Hamid affirmed that it will remain in a continuous state of mourning until the body of its son is released along with the rest of the bodies of the martyrs, which are being held in the graves of numbers and inside the refrigerators of the occupation.