A Palestinian youth has died after succumbing to injuries sustained when Israeli forces besieged a house in Tulkarm on July 23 and used him as a human shield.
Zahir Tahseen Raddad, 19, from the town of Saida, north of Tulkarm, died on Sunday morning, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said in a joint statement.
Raddad had sustained serious injuries on July 23, following a siege by Israeli forces on the house in the Azbat al-Jarad neighborhood east of Tulkarm.
An Israeli drone targeted the house, and Raddad was arrested along with three other young men, one of whom had moderate injuries, reported the official Palestinian news agency WAFA.
The prisoner organizations confirmed Raddad’s death at the Israeli Meir Hospital.
Raddad was shot by Israeli forces and used as a human shield after he was placed on the front of an Israeli military vehicle, as documented in video footage of the military operation in Tulkarm, the organizations said.
Several Surgeries
The statement further said that Raddad had been held in hospital under critical and unstable health conditions, reliant on artificial respiration after undergoing several surgeries.
Despite his grave condition, the Israeli authorities continued his detention until his death.
“This crime adds to the unprecedented record of crimes by the occupation since the start of the genocide war against our people in Gaza and the prisoners facing another form of genocide through torture, humiliation, starvation, and mass isolation,” the organizations said.
They stressed that there are several wounded detainees whom Israeli authorities continue to hold in its hospitals, who were detained after being injured at the time of their arrest.
Raddad’s death raises the number of detainees killed since October 7 to 23. This total was in addition to dozens of Gaza detainees who have died in Israeli detention during the same period, the organizations said.
Elderly Detained
Earlier, Israeli forces abducted and assaulted an elderly Palestinian man during a raid on the town of Madama, south of Nablus.
Hajj Abu Nizar was found severely beaten and unconscious, Palestinian sources said.
On Thursday, Israeli authorities released more than 40 Palestinian prisoners, including a journalist and several administrative detainees who had been held without charges or trial, in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said some of those released on Thursday were suffering from skin diseases, particularly those released from the Naqab Prison, WAFA reported.
‘We Fasted’ – Israel Releases Dozens of Detainees from Occupied West Bank
Naqab Prison has been notorious for torture and abuse, as evidenced by numerous testimonies documented by several rights organizations.
Initial photos and video footage of the released detainees reveal the severe impact of their mistreatment, amid the Israeli policy of systematic food deprivation, with some looking gaunt and all having lost weight during their detention.
In a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land “illegal” and mandated the dismantling of settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
(PC, WAFA)
