Another Palestinian detainee from Gaza died in an Israeli hospital on Sunday, according to prisoners’ affairs groups.
Ashraf Fakhri Abu Warda, 51, died at Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba on Sunday, two days after being transferred from the Naqab Desert Prison in southern Israel.
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society confirmed his death in a joint statement.
Abu Warda was detained by Israeli forces in Gaza on November 20, 2023. His family stated that he had no known health issues prior to his detention.
His death marks the 50th Palestinian to die in Israeli custody since October 7, 2023, according to official Palestinian figures.
“This marks the highest death toll among Palestinian detainees in Israeli custody since 1967,” the joint statement read.
BREAKING: Ashraf Abu Warda, a 51-year-old Palestinian prisoner from Gaza, passed away today at the Israeli Soroka Hospital, according to prisoner rights groups. He had been detained for over a month, and his family reports that he had no prior health issues. pic.twitter.com/8ZxWfbj3ES
— Quds News Network (@QudsNen) December 29, 2024
Since October 7, 2023, the Israeli army has reportedly detained over 9,000 Palestinians, with more than 5,000 still held under harsh conditions, including limited access to medical care.
Rights groups have raised serious concerns about the treatment of detainees.
Alarming Surge
Last month, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society reported an alarming surge in the number of detainees from Gaza amid Israel’s intensified military operations in the besieged enclave.
In a statement, the organizations highlighted that Israel continues to carry out forced disappearances against hundreds of detainees, leaving no clear data on the total number of those abducted from Gaza.
The Israeli prison administration “announced at the beginning of November 2024 that there are 1,627 detainees from Gaza classified by the occupation as “unlawful combatants,” noting that this figure does not include all detainees from Gaza, particularly those in camps run by the occupation’s military,” the statement said.
Testimonies from 15 detainees following a recent visit by the Commission’s legal teams revealed atrocities committed by Israeli prison authorities against them, “including all forms of physical and psychological torture, medical crimes, starvation, and sexual assault.”
Surge in Palestinians Detained in Gaza – Detainees Recount Torture, Abuse
Abuse of Paraplegics, Amputees
One of the most prominent practices reported in their testimonies is the systematic use by the camp administration of the cell doors’ slot (used to pass food or communicate) to “punish” detainees, the organizations said.
This is done “by forcing the handcuffed detainees to extend their arms through the slot up to their armpits, where the guards then strike their arms severely using various tools and twist them in painful ways.”
This type of physical torture “has become a regular daily practice without exception, targeting all detainees, whether minors, the sick (including paraplegics and wounded), or the elderly,” the statement said.
An amputee detainee testified that his fellow detainees in his cell “were forced to carry me so I could reach the slot and extend my hands out of it.”
‘Palestinian Detainees Held in Prolonged, Secret Detention, Tortured and Abused’ – UN Report
Ongoing Genocide
The ongoing Israeli assault on the Gaza Strip, which began on October 7, 2023, has led to a humanitarian crisis of unprecedented scale. As the death toll among besieged and starved Palestinian civilians continues to rise daily, Israel is currently facing charges of genocide against Palestinians before the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
According to Gaza’s Ministry of Health, at least 45,484 Palestinians have been killed, and 108,090 wounded in Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza starting on October 7, 2023.
The toll is expected to rise further, with at least 11,000 people still unaccounted for, presumed dead under the rubble of their homes across Gaza.
The war, which Palestinians call “Operation Al-Aqsa Flood,” began after a military operation carried out by Hamas on Israeli territory. Israel reports that 1,200 of its soldiers and civilians were killed during the initial attack on October 7. However, Israeli media have raised concerns that a significant number of Israeli casualties were caused by ‘friendly fire’ during the assault.
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Human rights organizations, both Palestinian and international, have reported that the overwhelming majority of the casualties in Gaza are women and children. The ongoing violence has also exacerbated an acute famine, with thousands of children among the dead, highlighting the severity of the humanitarian disaster.
The war has displaced nearly two million people from their homes across Gaza, with the majority of the displaced forced into the already overcrowded southern region of the Strip. The population in Gaza remains trapped in the ongoing conflict, with little access to basic necessities such as food, water, and medical care.
(PC, Anadolu)
