Hamas said the latest death confirms Israel’s “brutality, its complete disregard for all human values, and its total denial of all international norms and conventions related to the rights of prisoners of war.”
A 62-year-old Palestinian man from Jabaliya in northern Gaza is the latest detainee to die in Israeli custody, bringing to 62 the total number of deaths in detention since October 2023.
Ali Ashour al-Batsh “ascended to martyrdom as a result of the inhumane conditions that Palestinian prisoners are subjected to” in Israeli prisons, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a statement on Thursday.
Ali Ashour Al-Batsh (Abu Mustafa) from Jabalia Al-Balad has been confirmed dead.
He was tortured to death in an Israeli occupation prison, despite being scheduled for release.
Ashour joins the growing list of dozens of Palestinians killed under Israel’s brutal torture. pic.twitter.com/X0QYbVk7Bb
— Ramy Abdu| رامي عبده (@RamAbdu) March 4, 2025
The organizations said his death came days after he was transferred from the Naqab Prison to the Soroka Hospital, “in light of the escalation of systematic crimes against prisoners,” the statement added.
His death follows that of Khaled Abdullah, age 40, in the Meggido Prison on February 23. Both detainees were expected to be released in the coming weeks. Forty detainees from Gaza were among the deceased.
‘Deliberate Executions’ – Hamas
Commenting on the latest death in detention, the Palestinian Resistance Movement Hamas has condemned Israel’s “continued policy of deliberate and slow executions against our prisoners inside its jails.”
The death “confirms its brutality, its complete disregard for all human values, and its total denial of all international norms and conventions related to the rights of prisoners of war.”
Palestinian Detainee Dies in Israeli Prison – Death Toll Rises to 61 since Oct 2023
Al-Batsh’s death “is a result of the extremist occupation government’s policy aimed at killing our prisoners through grave violations and criminal practices, including deliberate medical neglect, physical and psychological torture, solitary confinement, and deprivation of the most basic human rights.”
“We warn against the continuation of the occupation’s policy of targeting and physically liquidating prisoners, and we affirm that these practices will not succeed in breaking their resolve or their hope for imminent freedom,” Hamas stressed.
The movement called on all human rights and humanitarian organizations to intensify its efforts “in supporting and standing by the prisoners, and to escalate all forms of pressure in order to champion their cause.”
According to the official Palestinian news agency, WAFA, a total of 298 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli detention since 1967.
Detainees’ Bodies Withheld
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Center for the Missing and Forcibly Disappeared said in a statement on Thursday that Israel was holding the bodies of approximately 1,500 Palestinians, “including 665 documented cases, in refrigerators and ‘cemeteries of numbers,’ some since the 1960s and 1970s.”
“The occupation must be held internationally accountable for its crimes related to withholding bodies and enforced disappearances,” the organization stated.
TRUMP to Hamas:
“Only sick and twisted people keep bodies: and you are sick and twisted.”
Somebody needs to tell Trump that in Israel withholding the dead bodies of Palestinians is approved by the highest court in the land. pic.twitter.com/RX9xbQYVgh
— PalMedia (@PalMediaOrg) March 5, 2025
It stressed that US President Donald Trump and the international community “should not approach the issue of withheld bodies with double standards.”
“If the US president, who threatened the people of Gaza over the retention of a few bodies, is to be consistent, he should apply the same standards to Israel, which has been holding hundreds of bodies for decades,” the statement added.
It said Israel “continues to forcibly conceal the fate of hundreds of Palestinians” after detaining them from within Gaza.
Trump’s Threat
Trump issued a threat to Hamas on Wednesday demanding the immediate release of all captives or “THERE WILL BE HELL TO PAY LATER!”
“‘Shalom Hamas’ means Hello and Goodbye – You can choose. Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you. Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted! I am… pic.twitter.com/88EjVAyWAe
— President Donald J. Trump (@POTUS) March 5, 2025
“Release all of the Hostages now, not later, and immediately return all of the dead bodies of the people you murdered, or it is OVER for you,” he said in a post on his Truth Social platform as well as X.
“Only sick and twisted people keep bodies, and you are sick and twisted! I am sending Israel everything it needs to finish the job, not a single Hamas member will be safe if you don’t do as I say,” he continued.
Trump ‘Complicating’ Efforts
Hamas said Trump’s threats were complicating ceasefire efforts and encouraging Israel to backtrack on the agreement.
“These threats complicate matters regarding the ceasefire agreement and encourage the occupation government (Israel) to refrain from implementing its terms,” Hamas spokesman Hazem Qassem told the Anadolu news agency on Thursday.
Trump’s ‘Hell to Pay’ Threats ‘Encourage’ Israel to Backtrack on Ceasefire Deal – Hamas
Qassem emphasized that there is a signed ceasefire agreement with Washington as one of its mediators which includes the release of all Israeli captives in Gaza over its three stages.
“Hamas implemented all its obligations under phase one (of the agreement), but Israel is avoiding entering phase two,” he stressed.
“The US administration is required to pressure the occupation to enter negotiations for the second phase, as stipulated in the ceasefire agreement,” Qassem stated.
(The Palestine Chronicle)
