RAMALLAH, June 13, 2025 (WAFA) – The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) announced that Palestinian detainee Ra’ed Ismail ‘Asasa, 57, has died while in Israeli custody.
In a joint statement issued today, the Commission and PPS announced that they were notified by the General Authority of Civil Affairs of the death of detainee Asasa. While the exact circumstances surrounding his death remain unclear, it was confirmed that he had been transferred to an Israeli hospital on June 9 and was declared dead today, after 27 days in detention.
They added that Assasa, a married father of two boys and a girl, was a laborer working inside the 1948 territories. Since the onset of the genocide, the occupation has detained thousands of workers and subjected them to unprecedented forms of torture.
With Abu Habel’s death, the number of identified Palestinian prisoners and detainees who have died since the beginning of the genocide has reached 72, including at least five workers.
The death of Asasa adds to the growing number of Palestinians who have died as a result of the intensified and systematic abuses perpetrated by the Israeli prison system since the onset of the ongoing genocide.
This period has been the deadliest in the history of the Palestinian prisoner movement since 1967. As a result, the total number of Palestinian detainees who have died in Israeli prisons since 1967 has risen to 309.
It is important to note that many detainees from Gaza remain subject to the crime of enforced disappearance.
The two organizations held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the death of Asasa and renewed their call on the international human rights community to take decisive action to hold Israeli officials accountable for the ongoing war crimes being committed against the Palestinian people.
In a joint statement, they urged the imposition of sanctions to isolate Israel internationally and to restore the credibility of the international human rights system, which they stressed has been severely undermined during the genocide.
They also called for an end to the exceptional immunity granted to Israel by colonial powers, which has enabled it to evade accountability and punishment.
WAFA correspondent reported that, according to information the family received during Asasa's detention, he began experiencing severe pain in his legs and extreme fatigue throughout his body ten days after his detention.
He was subsequently transferred to an Israeli hospital for treatment. Although the family’s lawyer had informed them that he was scheduled to be released tomorrow, Saturday, he was instead pronounced dead today.
T.R.
