A Palestinian detainee from the Gaza Strip died on Thursday after being held for 14 months in the “Negev” detention center in southern Israel.
In a joint statement, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs announced the death of the detainee Hatem Ismail Rayyan (59 years old), in Israeli prison.
The statement added that Rayyan, a citizen of the Gaza Strip, was abducted in Beit Lahia on December 27, 2024, during the siege imposed on Kamal Adwan Hospital.
According to Rayyan’s family, he worked as a paramedic in Gaza prior to his abduction, despite having suffered a minor stroke.
It is important to mention that occupation forces abducted Rayyan alongside his injured son Muath, and the detainee Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, who are currently imprisoned in Israeli jails.
With the death of Rayyan, the number of Palestinian detainees who have died in occupation prisons since the beginning of the Israeli military onslaught against the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, has risen to 88, including 52 citizens from the Gaza Strip.
Since the Israeli military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip in June 1967, the number of Palestinian detainees who have died in occupation prisons has risen to 325. It is important to mention that this numbers only reflects the number of detainees who have been identified after death.
This comes at a time when 9,300 Palestinian citizens are detained in Israeli prisons, including 3,358 administrative detainees held without charges, and 1,249 classified as “unlawful combatants”.
The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs stated that they hold the Israeli occupation authorities responsible for the death of the detainee Rayyan.
