RAMALLAH, May 15, 2025 (WAFA) – Palestinian prisoner support organizations announced today the deaths of three Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip while in Israeli custody, raising renewed concerns over the mistreatment of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli detention camps and calls for international accountability.
The three men were identified as Ayman Abdel Hadi Qdeih, 56, Bilal Talal Salameh, 24, and Mohammad Ismail Al-Astal, 46. Their deaths were confirmed in responses sent by the Israeli military to Palestinian human rights organizations, which provided only the dates of death without further details regarding the circumstances.
The organizations – the Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners Society, and Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights – condemned the deaths as part of a broader pattern of systemic abuse.
"These deaths are another addition to the record of atrocities committed by the Israeli system, which continues to carry out organized crimes against detainees, amounting to acts of ongoing genocide," the groups said in a joint statement.
They emphasized that the plight of Palestinian detainees from Gaza has revealed "unprecedented levels of violence and atrocities," including reports of torture, starvation, medical neglect, and sexual abuse. According to the organizations, testimonies from Gaza detainees in recent months have been among the most harrowing, detailing a "moment-by-moment" experience of abuse.
The statement criticized the Israeli military for its lack of transparency, noting that it often provides inconsistent or delayed information about detainees' fates. In some cases, organizations have been forced to go to court to obtain basic details.
Qdeih was reportedly detained in October 2023, and died just five days later. Salameh was detained in March 2024 while fleeing Khan Younis and died on August 11, 2024. Al-Astal was detained on February 7, 2024, and died on May 2, 2025.
The latest deaths bring the known number of Palestinian detainees who have died since the onset of the ongoing Israeli genocide to 69, including 44 from Gaza. Since 1967, 306 prisoners with known identities have died in Israeli custody, according to the groups.
The organizations accused Israel of carrying out systematic "slow killing" practices in its detention facilities, citing the spread of disease – such as scabies – as a method of torture and neglect. They stated that medical negligence, torture, and starvation are central causes behind the rising death toll.
Holding Israel fully responsible for the deaths, the organizations renewed their call for an independent international investigation into the deaths of dozens of detainees, and for the international community to take effective measures to hold Israeli leaders accountable.
They called on the international human rights system to reclaim its role and end the exceptional impunity enjoyed by Israel, which, they said, has so far been shielded from meaningful accountability despite ongoing war crimes.
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