Bethlehem/PNN/

A 40-year-old Palestinian inmate has died as a result of deliberate medical negligence at an Israeli hospital, a Palestinian prisoners advocacy group says.

In a statement released on Saturday, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said Palestinian prisoner Mousa Abu Mahameed was pronounced dead at Assaf Harofeh Hospital in Tel Aviv in the morning, Palestine's sources reported.

The PPS held Israeli authorities fully responsible for the Palestinian inmate’s death and accused the occupying regime of medical negligence.

"Abu Mahamid was subjected to the crime of deliberate medical negligence," the PPS said.

It further noted that Israeli authorities informed Abu Mahameed’s family and handed over his body for burial later in the day.

Abu Mahameed, a resident of Beit Ta’mar in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem, was arrested about two months ago in good health as he attempted to enter Jerusalem  for work.

Israeli forces claimed he did not have a work permit at the time.

According to his family, the Palestinian inmate was suffering from a neurological disorder before his arrest, and that his condition deteriorated in jail.

He was transferred to Assaf Horveh Hospital at the beginning of August after his health declined significantly.

The PPS further said that targeting of Palestinians under the pretext they had entered Israeli-occupied territories without a permit has "escalated" since the beginning of the year, not only through arrests but also through direct killings.

Abu Mahameed’s death came two days after around 1,000 Palestinian prisoners launched an indefinite mass hunger strike in Israeli prisons across the occupied territories in protest against the regime’s custodial repression under the so-called administrative detention policy.

The Supreme National Emergency Committee of the National Captive Movement had announced that the strike will run parallel with other protests against repressive measures being taken by prison wardens and authorities.

It added that the Israel should face pressure from regional and international organizations and governments in response to the demands of the prisoners, who have been booked under flimsy and unsubstantiated charges.