Qais Abu Samra and Betul Yilmaz
25 February 2025•Update: 25 February 2025
RAMALLAH, Palestine
At least 59 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli prisons since the start of the Gaza war in October 2023, a prisoners’ affairs group said on Tuesday.
The victims include 38 prisoners from the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a statement.
It accused the Israeli authorities of hiding the deaths of scores of Gazan prisoners in detention.
The Commission of Detainees’ Affairs said Monday that a Gazan prisoner, Musab Hani Haniyeh, died in Israeli custody.
Haniyeh, 35, from the southern city of Khan Younis, was arrested by the Israeli army on March 3, 2024. According to his family, Haniyeh was in good health before his detention.
According to Palestinian figures, at least 296 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli detention since Tel Aviv’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967.
At least 10,000 Palestinians remain in Israeli prisons. The figure does not include those arrested from the Gaza Strip whose numbers are estimated to be in the thousands.
A ceasefire agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, halting Israel’s genocidal war, which has killed more than 48,350 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.
The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.
Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its military campaign.
