A Palestinian prisoner has been pronounced dead while in Israeli custody, prompting widespread concern over the treatment of thousands of Palestinian detainees still in Israeli jails.
On Wednesday, the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, along with the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, announced that 21-year-old Abdul Rahman al-Sabateen, from the town of Husan west of Bethlehem, died at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem on Tuesday night.
According to the authorities, al-Sabateen was detained on 24 June, though the circumstances of his detention - including the reason and location - were not disclosed.
The statement quoted al-Sabateen’s family as saying he showed no signs of serious health issues during a court hearing on 25 November.
The statement added that Sabateen had suffered an unspecified abdominal injury a year before his arrest, but that "his condition later stabilised".
The organisations held Israeli authorities fully responsible for his death and urged international bodies to take effective measures to hold Israeli leaders accountable for what they described as war crimes against prisoners and the Palestinian people.
They further warned that al-Sabateen’s death reflected the wider treatment of Palestinian detainees, noting that at least 85 deceased Palestinian prisoners have been identified so far amid the rising death toll since the outbreak of the genocidal war on Gaza.
The ministry and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club noted that, since 1967, a total of 322 Palestinian detainees has been confirmed to have died in custody.
Al-Sabateen’s death also comes amid growing scrutiny of Israeli far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who recently backed a controversial bill to introduce the death penalty for Palestinians labelled by Israel as terrorists.
Ben-Gvir has faced mounting criticism over conditions inside Israeli prisons, with a recent report finding that 110 Palestinians have died in custody since he took office.
During this period, he has repeatedly boasted about worsening conditions and tightening restrictions.
In late November, a Palestinian rights organisation warned that the extremist minister has continued to incite and enforce a "systematic policy of genocide" inside Israeli prisons.
Ben-Gvir also has a long record of racist incitement both on and offline, having repeatedly called for the killing and torture of Palestinian detainees and using social media to glorify abuse.
Palestinian and Israeli human rights organisations have repeatedly raised alarm over detention conditions for Palestinian prisoners- citing systematic torture, starvation, and rape, as well as the collapse of legal oversight behind prison walls.
Testimonies from freed Palestinian detainees describe severe beatings, electric shocks, prolonged stress positions, sleep deprivation, denial of food and water and refusal of urgent medical care.