A Palestinian prisoner died in an Israeli hospital as a result of “deliberate” medical negligence, said a prisoners group on Thursday.

​​​​​​​Sami Al-Amour, 39, died in Soroka Hospital in southern Israel.

- The prisoner Al-Amour from the city of Deir al-Balah in the Gaza Strip has been detained since 2008 and was sentenced to 19 years in prison - the Palestinian Prisoners Club said in a statement.

Al-Amour had been “suffering from a congenital heart problem” and died “as a result of the policy and crime of deliberate medical negligence" as well as “delay in following up on his health and the harsh conditions of detention he was subjected to over the years of his detention."

Al-Amour had long been deprived of the right to have family visits, said the rights group, except for a few times his mother was allowed to visit in the early years of his detention.

Since being taken to Soroka hospital only a few days ago, Al-Amour has twice so far undergone unsuccessful surgery, according to the rights group.

Al-Amour is "the latest victim of the crime of medical negligence, one of the most prominent systematic policies that have caused the martyrdom of prisoners in the past few years," said a statement by the society.

- The number of prisoners martyred in the prisons of the occupation has risen to 227 martyrs since 1967, including 72 prisoners who died as a result of the crime of medical negligence. 

The rights group called on all concerned authorities to "intervene seriously to stop this systematic and perpetual crime" against the prisoners.

Before Al-Amour’s death, it also accused Israeli authorities of refusing to release the bodies of seven prisoners in its prisons.

There are around 4,650 Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons, with about 550 suffering from chronic medical conditions such as cancer and kidney and heart problems, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society.