RAMALLAH, June 14, 2026 (WAFA) – Israeli authorities on Sunday informed the family of Palestinian prisoner Imad Rajeh Sarhan, 47, from the city of Haifa in the 1948 territory, that he died in Gilboa prison after suffering a heart attack on Saturday, without providing further details about the circumstances of his death.
The Palestinian Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society said Sarhan had been detained since October 15, 2001, and was serving a life sentence.
They stated that during the early years of his imprisonment, he was subjected to prolonged interrogation and systematic torture, which caused serious and lasting health complications. His condition deteriorated over the years, including repeated placement in solitary confinement.
The two institutions added that Sarhan suffered from chronic heart and vascular diseases and high blood pressure, and in recent years had been forced to use a wheelchair due to the severe decline in his health, while still being held in harsh conditions.
They said Sarhan was one of the victims of medical neglect and systematic abuse faced by Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons, particularly amid an escalation in harsh prison policies since the beginning of the ongoing war.
According to their statement, Sarhan’s death raises the number of Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli prisons since October 7, 2023, and whose identities have been determined to 90, while the total number of prisoner deaths since 1967 has reached 327.
The institutions held Israeli authorities fully responsible for his death, calling on international legal and human rights bodies to take concrete steps toward accountability and to end impunity.
They added that conditions in Israeli prisons have reached the most severe and deadly stage in the history of the Palestinian prisoner movement, amid reports of systematic abuse, deprivation, and medical neglect.
More than 9,400 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, including 3,324 administrative detainees held without charges or trial and 1,316 classified as “unlawful combatants.”
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