Israeli police detain wife of deceased Palestinian writer in Jerusalem

Israeli police on Thursday detained the widow of Palestinian writer Walid Daqqa, who died of cancer last year in Israeli custody.

In a statement, the Palestinian Prisoners' Media Office, which is affiliated with Hamas, said Israeli forces apprehended Sanaa Daqqa near the Damascus Gate in Jerusalem's Old City and took her to an interrogation center.

The statement did not provide further details about the reason for her detention.

The arrest came after a call by Israeli National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir for her deportation.

Earlier, the Israeli news outlet Walla reported that Ben-Gvir contacted Interior Minister Moshe Arbel four times in one day to push for Daqqa's immediate deportation.

On May 28, Israeli authorities began proceedings to revoke the citizenship of four Arab citizens held in Israeli prisons, alleging they received money from the Palestinian Authority during their incarceration.

On April 7, 2024, Palestinian prisoner Walid Daqqa, 62, died after 38 years in Israeli prisons due to cancer, Palestinian rights groups reported.

"The leader and prisoner Walid Daqqa, suffering from cancer, was martyred at Assaf Harofeh Hospital (near Tel Aviv)," the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners' Society said in a joint statement.

Daqqa's death was attributed to "the deliberate medical negligence policy pursued by the occupation prisons administration against sick prisoners."

The statement said that Daqqa hailed from Baqa al-Gharbiyye, a town located in Israel on the border with the occupied West Bank, and had been detained since 1986.