GAZA, Sept. 8 (Xinhua) -- Ismail Haniyeh, the politburo chief of Islamic Hamas movement, held Israel fully responsible for the death of a Palestinian prisoner in an Israeli prison earlier on Sunday.

Bassam al-Sayeh, 47, from the northern West Bank city of Nablus, who suffered cancer, died in an Israeli prison. The Palestinians slammed Israel for medical negligence.

"One day this occupier (Israel) will pay the price for not only its crimes, but also its illegal presence on the land of Palestine. This occupation will end," Haniyeh told reporters in Gaza City.

He pointed out that Sayeh was captive and one of the Mujahideen (holy fighters) "who was engaged in resistance and jihad (Holy War) and recorded a bright page of steadfastness."

Al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas, announced that Sayeh is one of its Mujahideen, threatening that his blood will not be wasted.

Hassan Abed Rabbo, spokesman for the PLO's Prisoners department, told Xinhua earlier that Sayeh died in an Israeli prison in Ramla.

Abed Rabbo held the Israeli Prison Service fully responsible for Sayeh's death due to medical negligence, lack of treatment and refusal to release him.

Al-Sayeh's death brings to 221 the number of Palestinian prisoners who have died in Israeli prisons since 1967.

Israel is holding nearly 6,000 detainees, including about 700 sick prisoners, 37 of them in serious condition and nearly 30 with cancer.