Layan Bsharat
14 June 2026•Update: 14 June 2026
A Palestinian detainee died in Israeli custody on Sunday after 25 years in prison, prisoner advocacy groups said.
Imad Rajih Sarhan, 47, breathed his last at Gilboa Prison in northern Israel, with Israeli authorities blaming a heart attack for his death, the Palestinian Commission of Detainee’s Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.
Israeli authorities, however, did not provide further details about the circumstances of his death or his health condition before his demise.
Sarhan, from Haifa city in northern Israel, has been serving a life sentence in prison since Oct. 15, 2001.
“In his first years in prison, Sarhan was subjected to harsh and lengthy interrogations and systematic torture methods, which left serious and lasting health effects on his body, and exacerbated the deterioration of his health condition throughout the years,” the statement said.
The two groups said the detainee also suffered “systematic” medical neglect, causing him to develop heart and artery diseases.
His death brought the number of Palestinian detainees who died in Israeli custody to 90 since October 2023 and to 327 since the Israeli occupation of the West Bank in 1967.
At least 9,500 Palestinian detainees are currently languishing in Israeli prisons, suffering from starvation, torture, and medical neglect, which has led to the deaths of dozens, according to Palestinian and Israeli human rights reports.
*Writing by Rasa Evrensel in Istanbul
