Ramallah, January 6 (RHC)-- The health condition of several Palestinian prisoners held inside Israeli jails is failing, says the Palestinian Authority Department of Prisoners Affairs. Palestinian prisoners residing in Israeli jails are suffering from serious health problems, yet they are not receiving proper medical treatment, the department said in a statement on Monday, Palestine's Ma'an News Agency reported.

A 75-year-old prisoner, Fouad Shweiki, who suffers from weak eyesight, elevated blood pressure, and prostate problems, was among thoses not receiving proper medical treatment. In 2006, Shweiki, the oldest Palestinian prisoner currently held in Israeli jails, was sentenced to 20 years behind bars.

Another prisoner, Khaled Hassan al-Qadi, contracted Hepatitis B after being jailed in 2003, but has not received any manner of medical treatment. Via a separate statement, the department said that the health conditions of 16 prisoners currently being held in al-Ramla hospital were deteriorating due to being treated inhumanely.

Some 7,000 Palestinians are currently being held in Israeli prisons, Israeli forces arrested over two thousand of them last summer amid increasing tensions in the West Bank and Gaza.