Palestine Red Crescent retrieves body of prisoner tortured to death by Israeli soldiers

The Palestine Red Crescent Society has reported that it has retrieved the body of prisoner Ayman Rajih Abed from the Salem military checkpoint. Abed, 50, was from Kafr Dan, west of Jenin.

At the Jenin Government Hospital, doctors noted that his body was still wearing handcuffs and showed clear signs of torture, according to hospital director Wissam Bakr. Doctors confirmed that there were visible marks of severe beatings, indicating that he had been tortured to death by Israeli soldiers during his detention.

According to Ayman Taha, Israeli forces raided Abed’s home at dawn, where he was brutally beaten before being taken to the military checkpoint. He added that his relative was in good health at the time of his arrest, and died as a result of being tortured in detention.

Abed’s death brings the confirmed number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees killed inside Israeli prisons since 7 October to 25. However, this figure only covers the individuals whose identities have been confirmed. The Israeli occupation authorities continue to withhold information about the identities of many others who have died in prisons and camps, leaving the exact number unknown.

The Israeli army has been engaged since last Wednesday in its largest military operation in the northern West Bank since 2002. Troops have stormed into Jenin and Tulkarm, as well as their refugee camps and the Fara camp near Tubas. The army withdrew from the Fara camp early on Thursday morning and from Tulkarm later that evening.

However, operations in Jenin continue, with the Israeli army deploying armoured forces, supported by air power, in the city. The operation has seen at least 26 Palestinians killed, according to Israeli military sources.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank amid a brutal Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed almost 41,000 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since 6 October last year. At least 674 Palestinians have been killed, nearly 5,400 others injured, and over 10,300 arrested in the occupied West Bank during the same period, according to Palestinian figures.

In a landmark opinion on 19 July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land to be unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

READ: Israel accused of using child as human shield during raid in occupied West Bank