3 more Palestinians die in Israeli custody

Three Palestinians have died in Israeli custody, human rights organisations announced yesterday after receiving confirmation from the Israeli occupation authorities, the Palestinian Information Centre reported.

In a joint statement, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association confirmed the death of Ayman Abdul Hadi Qdeih, 56, Bilal Talal Salama, 24, and Mohammed Ismail Al-Astal, 46.

Ayman Qdeih was arrested on 7 October 2023 and died a few days later on 12 October.

Bilal Salama was detained in March 2024 while fleeing Khan Yunis in Gaza and died on 11 August.

Mohammed Al-Astal was held on 7 February 2024 and died on 2 May 2025.

Their deaths bring to 69 the number of Palestinian detainees who have been killed in Israeli detention since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023. This included 44 Palestinians from Gaza. Since 1967, a total of 306 prisoners have died in Israeli custody, according to verified records.

The organisations noted that many more detainees from Gaza are believed to have died or been killed in custody, but their identities are being deliberately withheld by Israeli occupation authorities. This current period, they stated, represents the bloodiest chapter in the history of the Palestinian prisoner movement.

They added that the deaths of the three detainees are part of the systematic violence and brutality of the Israeli prison system, which has long employed organised methods of torture, starvation and medical neglect to kill prisoners, amounting to another form of the ongoing genocide.

The organisations highlighted that detainees from Gaza have faced some of the most severe forms of abuse, including physical torture, starvation, medical negligence, and sexual violence. Testimonies from Gaza detainees over the past several months have revealed extreme and continuous violations, often involving compounded abuse.

They also criticised the Israeli occupation military for providing only minimal and delayed information regarding the circumstances of death, often limited to the date of death without any details. In some cases, authorities deliberately issued conflicting information, prompting legal efforts by rights organisations to obtain conclusive responses from Israeli courts.

The organizations warned that thousands of detainees held in Israeli prisons and military camps are being subjected to slow and systematic death through calculated neglect, denial of basic needs, and deliberate spread of disease.

As of early May 2025, the number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons exceeded 10,100, including 37 women, over 400 children, 3,577 administrative detainees – held without charge or trial, and 1,846 detainees from Gaza classified by Israel as “unlawful combatants” — a figure that does not include all detainees held in military camps, particularly those from Gaza.

READ: B’Tselem documents ‘war crime’ of torture, abuse in Israel’s jails