Another Palestinian detainee dies in Israeli prison: Rights groups

RAMALLAH, Palestine / ISTANBUL 

A 20-year-old Palestinian died in Israeli detention, prisoners’ affairs groups said on Sunday.

Ahmad Saeed Tazazaa, from the West Bank city of Jenin, breathed his last at Israel’s Megiddo Prison in northern Israel, the Palestinian Prisoner Society and the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs said in a joint statement.

Tazazaa was held without trial under Israel’s policy of administrative detention. Israel used the policy to hold Palestinians up to six months without charge and extend detention up to five years through military court orders.

Tazazaa had been detained since May 6, the statement said, without providing further details on the circumstances of his death.

The latest fatality brought the number of Palestinians died in Israeli custody since October 2023 to 76, according to Palestinian data. These figures include only those whose identities have been confirmed amid ongoing cases of enforced disappearance.

Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on the Gaza Strip, at least 1,012 Palestinians have been killed and more than 7,000 injured in the West Bank by Israeli forces and illegal settlers, 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 and called for the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.