Another Gazan detainee dies in Israeli detention

RAMALLAH, Palestine

Another Palestinian detainee from the Gaza Strip died in Israeli detention, prisoners’ affairs groups said on Wednesday.

Rafat Adnan Abu Fannanah, 34, was arrested by the Israeli army on Oct. 7, 2023, and breathed his last in custody, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

Abu Fannanah, a father of one child, was injured during his arrest and was held at Ayalon Prison before he was transferred to the Shamir Medical Center southeast of Tel Aviv, where he was pronounced dead, the statement said.

The new death brought the number of Palestinian detainees who died in Israeli detention to 60, including 39 from Gaza, since October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.

Palestinian authorities estimate that at least 297 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli prisons 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 and prisoner exchange agreement took effect in Gaza on Jan. 19, halting Israel’s brutal war that has killed at least 48,350 Palestinians, most of them women and children, and left the enclave in ruins.

In November, the International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants 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.