Another Palestinian detainee dies in Israeli custody

RAMALLAH, Palestine

A Palestinian detainee died in Israeli custody on Thursday, marking the second death in Israeli prisons within 24 hours, prisoners’ affairs groups said.

Alaa Marwan Hamza al-Mahlawi, 42, from Gaza, died at Assaf Harofeh Hospital, southwest of Tel Aviv after he was transferred from Negev prison in southern Israel in November, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

His death came one day after Mohammad Walid Hussein Ali, 45, from the West Bank, died a week after being arrested and transferred to the Jalamah interrogation center in northern Israel,

The statement said Mahlawi was detained by Israel on Dec. 21, 2023. He had no chronic illnesses before his arrest, and was only suffering from a problem in one of his eyes, according to his family.

The two groups said that Mahlawi, a father of four, was arrested on the same day his father was killed in Gaza.

The new death brought the number of Palestinian detainees who died in Israeli prisons since last year to 49, including 30 from Gaza, according to Palestinian figures.

Estimates put the number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons at around 10,300, but no information is available about the number of Palestinians detained by the Israeli army from Gaza.

Israel launched a genocidal war on the Gaza Strip in October 2023, killing nearly 44,600 people, most of them women and children, and injuring over 105,700.

The second year of the genocide in Gaza has drawn growing international condemnation, with officials and institutions denouncing the attacks and blocking of aid deliveries as a deliberate attempt to destroy the population.

Last month, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and 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 deadly war on Gaza.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio