The Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) has said the Israeli occupation authorities are wholly responsible for the serious health condition of a detainee released on Wednesday after four months in administrative detention.
Meanwhile, Israeli authorities reportedly admitted on Thursday to the severe beating of another Palestinian prisoner from the West Bank, which led to his death last month.
Farouk Ahmad Khatib, 30, is from the town of Abu Shkheidem, northwest of Ramallah.
The PPS said in a statement that according to Khatib’s family, their son did not suffer any chronic diseases before his arrest. “He only suffered from a fast heartbeat, which was a result of his first arrest which lasted for four years,” the family reportedly then.
He was released two months before his latest arrest.
Urinating on Prisoners: How Palestinian Pride Canceled Israel’s ‘Politics of Humiliation’
The PPS said Khatib “was severely beaten by Nahshon forces during his transfer from Ofer prison to the Ramleh, which led to this dangerous stage in his health.”
Khatib was detained in Nafha prison in the Naqab desert after being transferred from Ofer prison, near Ramallah, before he was moved to the Ramleh prison clinic, and finally to Soroka Hospital where he was released after being diagnosed with advanced stomach cancer.
The PPS warned that Khatib is not the only case of detainees released from Israeli occupation prisons in a serious and difficult health condition.
It accused the Israel Prison Services (IPS) of medical neglect of the prisoners.
Four months ago, Farouk Ahmad Khati was detained by the Israeli army without charge or trial under administrative detention.
Today, he was released, with a noticeable difference in his appearance and health.
The PPS said in a statement that according to Khatib’s family, their… pic.twitter.com/6ABuef7u3T
— The Palestine Chronicle (@PalestineChron) December 21, 2023
Israeli Prison Officials Beat Detainee to Death
On Thursday, Israeli occupation authorities reportedly admitted the involvement of 19 prison guards affiliated to the IPS in the severe beating of Thayer Abu Assab, 38, from the northern West Bank town of Qalqilya last month, which led to his death.
According to the official Palestinian news agency WAFA, the newspaper Israel Hayom reported that an autopsy confirmed that he had been assaulted and beaten. His death was announced on November 18.
The paper said that “all 19 jailers involved in the assault had been released under “restrictive conditions” until the investigation ends,” WAFA reports.
The far-right Israeli Minister of National Security, Itamar Ben Gvir, reportedly expressed his support for the prison guards, claiming they were innocent until proven otherwise, and that he is against charging anyone of them in the killing of Abu Assab.
He described Palestinians incarcerated in Israeli prisons “as ‘human scum’ and ‘murderers’”, reports WAFA.
The Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission had previously confirmed that the occupation authorities had assassinated Abu Assab, who was held at the Naqab desert prison. He had been detained since May 27, 2005, and was sentenced to 25 years in prison.
It accused the IPS of carrying out systematic and premeditated assassinations against the prisoners.
RT @swilkinsonbc "The israelis brazenly admit that they brutally beat Palestinian hostage Thayer Abu Assab, from Qalqilya, to death: he was just 38 years-old https://t.co/cacRWD60vQ"
— Richard Hardigan (@RichardHardigan) December 21, 2023
At Least Six Detainees Dead Since October 7
It is noteworthy that since October 7, six Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli prisons, reportedly as a result of brutal beatings.
The Palestinian Information Centre reports that the detained, Omar Al-Atshan, who was released from the same prison as part of the prisoner exchange deal between Israel and the Palestinian resistance, revealed upon his release that Abu Assab was subjected to relentless assault, when he asked about the truce.
“He died on the floor as jailers refused to allow a doctor to see him immediately,” Al-Atshan had reportedly said.
Prisoner after prisoner released in the deal have shared testimony of relentless beatings and abuse, including starvation. They say the inhumane treatment escalated after October 7.
Several Prisoners from Gaza Died inside Israeli Detention Camp – Haaretz
Israeli Prisons ‘Became a Graveyard for Us’
Freed detainee, Muhammed Nazzal, said in an interview that “Israeli prisons became a graveyard for us.”
In July 2023, the international rights organization, Save the Children, released a report that found four out of five Palestinian children in the Israeli military detention system are beaten and 69 percent are strip-searched.
The research found that nearly half – 42 per cent – are injured at the point of arrest, including suffering gunshot wounds and broken bones.
Worse, some report violence of a sexual nature and some are transferred to court or between detention centers in small cages, the child rights organization said.
It is estimated that there are between 500 and 1,000 children held in Israeli military detention each year.
Jason Lee, Save the Children’s country director in the occupied Palestinian territory, reportedly said:
“There’s simply no justification for beating and stripping children, treating them like animals or robbing them of their futures. This is a child protection crisis that can no longer be ignored. There must finally be an end to this abusive military detention system.”
‘Israeli Prisons Became a Graveyard for Us’: Freed Palestinian Child Prisoner Speaks Out
(PC, WAFA)
