GAZA, December 30, 2024 (WAFA) – Four Palestinian detainees from Gaza have died in Israeli jails, according to the Palestinian Prisoner's Society (PPS) and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs.
The death of the four detainees, identified as Mohammed Rashid Akka, 44, Samir al-Kahlout, 52, Zuhair Al-Sharif, 58, and Muhammad Anwar Labad, 57, brings the number of slain Palestinian detainees announced during the past 24 hours to five.
On Sunday, 51-year-old Palestinian detainee Ashraf Mohammad Fakhri Abu Warda, from Gaza, died in mysterious circumstances in the Israeli Soroka Hospital. PPS and the Commission announced in a previous statement that they were informed of Abu Warda's death after he was transferred from Naqab Prison to Soroka Hospital on December 27, 2024. He had been detained since November 20, 2023, and, according to his family, had not suffered from any pre-existing health issues.
The PPS and the Commission reported that all responses provided by various institutions were issued by the occupation army or prison administration. They confirmed that this is currently the only available method to determine the fate of Gaza detainees, made possible by recent legal amendments.
Akka, a father of ten, was detained on November 15, 2023, during his displacement from northern Gaza to the south. He died in the Negev prison yesterday, Sunday. According to his family, he did not suffer from any health problems before his detention.
As for Al-Kahlout, he was detained on October 25, 2024, from Kamal Adwan Hospital. Before his detention, Al-Kahlout had undergone a partial liver and kidney removal operation and was in critical need of intensive care. However, he could not receive care due to the severe shortage of medical supplies and resources, leading to a severe deterioration in his health condition. At the time of his detention, doctors tried to prevent the soldiers from detaining him, but their efforts were in vain. Al-Aklouk, a father of three, died in Israeli custody on November 3, 2024; a week after his detention.
Meanwhile, detainee Al-Sharif, a father of six, was detained on October 7, 2023. He was detained while working in the 1948-occupied territories. According to his family, he did not suffer from any prior health problems. He died in Israeli prisons on October 18, 2023.
According to PPS and the Commission, the responses provided by the occupation authorities regarding Al-Sharif’s fate were inconsistent and contradictory, emphasizing that his case is among several others followed up by the relevant institutions, which reveal the occupation army's deliberate manipulation of information.
Detainee Labad, a father of eight, was detained on November 18, 2024, during his displacement from the north to the south with his family. Labad died in the occupation’s custody on November 27, 2024. Before his detention, he suffered from liver cirrhosis and diabetes.
PPS and the Commission said that the increase in the number of slain detainees in Israeli jails is an escalating humanitarian disaster and a new confirmation of previous warnings that the occupation is working to systematically and publicly liquidate prisoners with reckless disregard for human life.
They also emphasized that the factor of time is now crucial in determining the fate of detainees, as systematic crimes, especially the unprecedented levels of torture, continue unabated against them. These crimes will result in only one outcome; the killing of more prisoners and detainees, the PPS and the Commission asserted in a statement.
They emphasized that what is happening to detainees is merely another face of the genocidal war, with the aim of carrying out further executions and assassinations of detainees and prisoners.
The statement stressed that the death of the four detainees constitutes a new crime in the record of Israel's never-ending system of brutality, which has reached its peak since the beginning of the ongoing aggression on October 7, 2023.
They renewed their demand for the international human rights system to take effective action to hold the leaders of the occupation accountable for the war crimes they continue to commit against the Palestinian people.
PPS and the Commission said that the killing of the four detainees brought the number of Palestinian detainees who have died in Israeli custody since the beginning of the Israeli aggression on Gaza on October 7, 2023, to 54. These figures reflect only those detainees whose identities have been confirmed, as the ongoing crime of enforced disappearance persists against hundreds of detainees from Gaza.
According to PPS and the Commission, this toll represents the highest number in the history of the prisoner movement, marking this period as the most brutal in its entire history. This toll brings the total number of Palestinians killed in Israeli prisons - whose identities are known - since 1967 to 291.
PPS and the Commission warned that the escalating number of slain detainees would take an even more dangerous turn as more time passes, with thousands of detainees held in occupation prisons continuously subjected to systematic crimes, most notably torture, starvation, physical and sexual assaults, medical neglect and other forms of abuse.
As of the beginning of December, the prison administration has revealed that more than 10,300 detainees are in its prisons, including 90 women, at least 345 children and 3,428 administrative detainees. Meanwhile, hundreds of Gaza detainees remain victims of enforced disappearance, with no information available about their whereabouts or conditions.
Y.S.
