Palestinian institutions confirmed Sunday the death of Palestinian political prisoner, Mohammad Hussein Mohammad Ghawadra, 63, from Jenin in the occupied West Bank’s northern part, while held in Israeli custody.
The General Authority for Civil Affairs formally notified both the Palestinian Commission for Detainee Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society of his death inside Israel’s “Ganot” prison—formerly known as Nafha and Ramon—where he had been held without charges or trial since August 6, 2024.
Ghawadra was the father of Sami Ghawadra, currently held under administrative detention, without charges or trial, and of Shadi Ghawadra, who was released earlier this year in a prisoner exchange and subsequently exiled to Egypt.
His death adds to a growing toll of Palestinians who have died in Israeli detention amid what rights groups describe as a campaign of systematic abuse and slow execution.
The Commission and the Prisoners’ Society stated that Ghawadra’s death occurred amid intensifying incitement by Israeli officials, particularly far-right minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has publicly advocated for legislation to execute Palestinian detainees and boasted of punitive measures against them.
They warned that this rhetoric has translated into escalating violence and deprivation inside Israeli prisons, where detainees face what they describe as one of the most extreme phases of a sustained policy of extermination.
According to the statement, Ghawadra’s death is part of a broader pattern of deliberate medical neglect, psychological torment, and physical degradation.
Legal experts and human rights advocates have repeatedly warned that Israel’s treatment of Palestinian detainees violates multiple provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, particularly those concerning medical care, humane treatment, and protection from collective punishment.
Yet, these warnings have gone unheeded, as Israeli prison authorities continue to operate with impunity.
The targeting of elderly detainees like Ghawadra—who suffered from chronic health conditions—raises serious concerns about the use of medical neglect as a punitive tool.
His death follows a series of similar cases where detainees were denied timely access to treatment, resulting in preventable fatalities.
In addition to physical abuse and medical deprivation, detainees are subjected to psychological warfare.
Reports detail the use of prolonged solitary confinement, denial of family visits, and arbitrary transfers between facilities designed to destabilize and isolate.
These tactics, according to former detainees and legal observers, amount to institutionalized torture.
Following the recent ceasefire agreement, testimonies from released detainees have revealed harrowing accounts of torture and extrajudicial killings inside Israeli prisons.
These accounts were corroborated by the condition of bodies returned under the terms of the ceasefire, which bore clear signs of abuse.
The continued withholding of bodies by Israeli authorities—now totaling 89, including 78 since the onset of the genocide—has compounded the trauma for families, depriving them of the right to mourn and bury their loved ones.
This policy, condemned by international legal bodies, is viewed as a form of collective punishment and psychological violence.
With Ghawadra’s death, the confirmed number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody since October 7, 2023, has risen to 81, according to verified records. The total number of deaths in custody since 1967 now stands at 318.
Palestinian institutions warned that this phase marks the deadliest period in the history of the detainee movement, with fatalities occurring at an unprecedented rate—nearly one per month.
Thousands remain confined in conditions described by observers as “inhuman and unfit for survival.”
The lack of independent oversight and the silencing of detainee testimonies have further shielded Israeli authorities from accountability. Detainees are held in overcrowded cells, denied basic hygiene supplies, and deliberately exposed to infectious diseases.
The resurgence of scabies among detainees is emblematic of the broader collapse of health protocols inside Israeli prisons.
Human rights organizations have also documented degrading conditions as a form of retaliation against detainees following ceasefire agreements. These include starvation, physical and sexual assaults, medical negligence, and extreme policies of deprivation and confiscation.
Palestinian institutions reiterated their demand for an international investigation into the circumstances surrounding Ghawadra’s death and the broader pattern of abuse. They called on the United Nations and the International Criminal Court to intervene, citing the urgent need to halt what they describe as a state-led campaign of extermination through incarceration.
The statement concluded with a renewed appeal to civil society, legal institutions, and media outlets worldwide to amplify the voices of detainees and expose the machinery of repression operating behind prison walls.
Without sustained international pressure, they warned, the cycle of death and denial will continue unchecked.
They urged the global human rights system to impose clear sanctions that isolate Israel and restore the credibility of international law—currently undermined by the scale of atrocities and the impunity granted to Israel by powerful allies treating it as a state above the law.
