Another Gaza detainee dies in Israeli custody, raising death toll to 62 since start October 2023

Another Palestinian detainee from the Gaza Strip has died in Israeli custody, prisoners’ rights organisations said today.

Ali Ashour Ali Al-Batsh, 62, from Jabalia in northern Gaza, was being held at Naqab Prison when he died, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) said in a joint statement.

His death brings to 62 the total number of Palestinian detainees who have died in Israeli custody since October 2023, including at least 41 from Gaza, according to Palestinian sources.

Rights groups have accused Israeli occupation authorities of systematic torture and medical neglect of detainees, warning that the actual number of deaths could be higher due to the lack of transparency regarding prisoners from Gaza.

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Since Israel’s occupation of the West Bank and Gaza in 1967, at least 298 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli jails, the statement added.

Thousands of Palestinians remain in Israeli detention, though the exact number of those taken from Gaza remains unclear due to forced disappearances and restricted access to information.

The news comes days after Hamas warned the “criminal Israeli occupation against continuing its heinous crimes against Palestinian prisoners in its prisons.”

The group called on the international community, as well as human rights and legal organisations, to pressure Israel and hold it accountable for its crimes against Palestinian prisoners, urging support for the prisoners in light of the tragic circumstances they are exposed to.

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