Report: Second Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli jails within 24 hours

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Commission and the Prisoners Society yesterday announced the death of Arafat Yasser Hamdan in Israel’s Ofer Detention Centre, the second prisoner to die in 24 hours, Quds Press reported.

In a joint statement, the two organisations explained that 25-year-old Hamdan, from the town of Beit Sira, west of Ramallah, was arrested two days ago as part of Israel’s increasingly aggressive campaign against the Palestinian people.

On Monday, administrative detainee Omar Hamza Daraghmeh, 58, from Tubas, was pronounced dead in the northern occupied West Bank while in Megiddo Prison. Daraghmeh had been in detention since 9 October.

In their joint statement, the two organisations questioned the credibility of the Israeli narrative regarding the circumstances surrounding the death of the detainees.

READ: Palestinian prisoners dies in Israel’s jails 2 weeks into his detention

“We consider the martyrdom of any prisoner in light of the comprehensive aggression against our people as tantamount to an assassination,” they said.

Israel has increased its arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank since 7 October. More than 6,000 detainees, including about 50 female prisoners, and more than 1,600 administrative detainees, are now in the occupation’s jails.

As many as 239 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli jails since 1967; Tel Aviv continues to withhold the bodies of 11 of them.