Another Palestinian dies in Israeli detention: Rights groups

RAMALLAH, Palestine / ISTANBUL

Another Palestinian detainee died in Israeli custody, rights groups said Sunday.

Sakhr Ahmad Khalil Zghoul, 26, from the town of Husan, west of Bethlehem in the southern West Bank, passed away inside Israel’s Ofer Prison, west of Ramallah, the Palestinian Prisoner Society and the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs said in a joint statement.

The statement did not provide any details about the circumstances of his death.

Zghoul had been held without trial or charge under Israel’s policy of administrative detention since June 11. His brother is also held without charge.

His death came just four days after another detainee from the same town died in detention.

According to Palestinian figures, at least 86 detainees have died in Israeli custody since October 2023. Rights groups, however, put the figure at over 100 during the same period.

“What Israel’s system of brutality is inflicting on prisoners and detainees amounts to nothing less than a systematic genocide,” the statement said.

Palestinian authorities estimate that more than 9,300 Palestinians are held in Israeli prisons, including more than 50 women and about 350 children, in addition to those kept in Israeli army camps.