RAMALLAH, May 11, 2026 (WAFA) – A Palestinian political detainee on Monday succumbed to his gunshot wounds sustained after being shot by Israeli colonist militias, according to the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS).
They said in a press release that Qusai Ibrahim Ali Rayan, 29, from the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan, died of his severe injuries sustained due to being shot by an armed Israeli colonist on April 15, 2026. Detained by Israeli forces on the same day, Rayan was admitted to Israel’s Beilinson Hospital.
The Commission and the PPS explained that at the start of his detention, occupation authorities claimed that Rayan, a father of a child, had attempted to carry out a stabbing attack. His detention was extended for eight days. At the time, the lawyer demanded full clarification regarding his health condition, which appeared extremely critical, after he was shown via video conference following repeated requests by the lawyer to see him, especially after being informed that he was unconscious and on artificial ventilation.
During the following court session, the court informed the Commission’s lawyer that there was no new request to extend his detention and that a decision had been made to release him. However, his critical medical condition required him to remain hospitalized. The lawyer handling the case also confirmed that, amid efforts to learn more about the circumstances of his arrest and his medical condition, contact with the hospital revealed that the so-called social worker who was supposed to communicate with his family had no information about Rayan’s condition.
The Commission and the PPS affirmed that the allegations presented by the occupation prosecution at the start of his detention — namely, that he intended to carry out a stabbing — were false and unfounded, particularly since in similar cases the occupation prosecution usually insists on continued detention. This, they said, indicates that Rayan was killed in cold blood and executed based on false claims and allegations.
The two institutions added that this crime comes within the context of the ongoing crimes committed by the occupation against the Palestinian people in the aftermath of the genocide, including field executions that have not ceased but rather intensified in the West Bank, amid practices by colonists who have become a central tool in the killing of Palestinians, alongside Israeli occupation forces that provide them with full protection.
The institutions pointed to the existence of hundreds of wounded detainees whose numbers have increased following the genocide, noting that the occupation continues to detain and hold them in harsh and tragic conditions. They are subjected, like other prisoners, to systematic abuses that constitute another aspect of the genocide.
The Commission and the PPS held the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for Rayan’s death and renewed their call on international human rights organizations to end the state of paralysis and complicity regarding the genocidal policies against the Palestinian people, including field executions and killings that have become a daily practice, as well as urgent intervention to stop the crimes committed against prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons.
K.F.
