Prisoner Maher Abu Rayan, 43, announced the start of a hunger strike to protest the Israeli prison administration's continued procrastination in providing him with the necessary treatment and to demand that a date be set for him to have nasal surgery (Paranasal sinuses).

Abu Rayan, from the city of Hebron in the south of the West Bank, suffers from a chest crisis and lung problems, which resulted since his arrest in 2003.

He was attacked by Israeli soldiers that resulted in a fracture in his nose, and his suffering continued to worsen until he underwent nose surgery in 2015.

However, his health deteriorated again in 2018, due to the appearance of water in his lungs, and he later underwent an operation during which the water was withdrawn, and his suffering did not stop.

Abu Rayan needs special treatment, and a Paranasal sinus operation and he has been waiting for two years for a date to be set.

The Palestinian prisoner club stated in a statement that the Israeli prison administration avoided providing him with the necessary treatment, claiming that he had to sign a paper refusing to conduct the operation.

This forced Abu Rayan to fight a new battle over two years in the Israeli courts to deny the prison administration's claim and to acknowledge the need to conduct an operation for him.

The club pointed out that Abu Rayan, who has been sentenced to 25 years in prison, took several steps of protest, which was met with recklessness and deliberate procrastination against him from the administration of the Negev prison.

To be noted, 700 sick prisoners are languishing in the Israeli prisons, including 300 suffering from chronic diseases and facing a policy of medical negligence (slow killing), which led to the kill of dozens of them.