Family says Israeli police informed them of Palestinian detainee’s death without providing circumstances

The family of 21-year-old Palestinian detainee Moataz Nizam al-Atrash (Abu Sneineh) said Israeli police informed them on Wednesday that he had died in Israeli custody but provided no information about the circumstances of his reported death.

The family said it had not yet received confirmation from Palestinian authorities or prisoner advocacy organizations.

According to the Palestinian news website Ultra Palestine, al-Atrash’s brother, Basha al-Atrash, said Israeli police at the Kiryat Arba station near Hebron contacted their father on Wednesday and asked him to report to the station.

Police informed the father there that his son had died, but did not provide details about when or how the death occurred, according to the family.

The family said Israeli police also asked the father to sign documents authorizing the transfer of al-Atrash’s body to the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute for examination.

Relatives expressed confusion over the notification, saying another Palestinian detainee who had shared a cell with al-Atrash at Ofer Prison was released on Tuesday and told them that al-Atrash had appeared to be in good condition.

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“We are baffled by what is happening,” the family said, adding that the recently released detainee had told them Moataz was “safe and well.”

His brother said al-Atrash, who was born in 2005, had been arrested in October and placed in administrative detention, which allows detention without criminal charge or trial on the basis of evidence that may be withheld from the detainee and their lawyer. According to the family, his second administrative detention order was due to expire on 7th October.

At the time of the family’s statement, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society had not issued statements confirming al-Atrash’s reported death.

Palestinian prisoner organisations say 91 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli custody since the start of the Gaza war, bringing the number of documented Palestinian prisoner deaths since 1967 to 328. According to their figures, 53 of the deaths recorded since October 2023 involved detainees from Gaza.

The organizations also say Israeli authorities are withholding the bodies of 99 Palestinians who died in custody, including cases dating from before the current war.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society reported that approximately 9,400 Palestinians were being held in Israeli prisons and detention facilities as of early August 2026.

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