Another Gazan detainee dies in Israeli custody, death toll rises to 75

RAMALLAH, Palestine / ISTANBUL

A 60-year-old Palestinian man from Gaza has died in Israeli custody, bringing the death toll since October 2023 to 75, prisoners’ affairs groups said on Wednesday.

A joint statement by the Palestinian Prisoner Society and the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs said Sayel Rajab Abu Nasr died on Jan. 21. Israeli authorities had held him since November 2023.

Of the 75 reported deaths in custody since October 2023, 46 were from Gaza, the statement said. Since 1967, a total of 312 Palestinians have died in Israeli prisons.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza and the West Bank on Oct. 7, 2023, more than 18,000 Palestinians have been detained in the West Bank. This figure does not include the thousands arrested in Gaza and covers both those still held and those later released.

At least 1,009 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers since October 2023, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.

In a landmark opinion last July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territory illegal, demanding the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.