Rights group: 1,500 detainees need medical treatment

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A detainees' center said Monday that over 1,500 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails needed medical attention.

A lawyer from the center visited one of Israel's desert jails in Beer Sheva, and found that prison authorities punished detainees by refusing them medical attention.

He said the jail's administration had refused treatment to Bilal Badra, who suffered severe pain from a kidney infections. Badra was detained in 2002 and sentenced to 18 years.

The center called for an investigation into Israel's practice of denying Palestinian detainees medical treatment, and said it was common across the country's prisons.

The number of sick detainees was increasing and many had life-threatening illnesses, the center added.