RAMALLAH

A prisoner from the Gaza Strip died after detention in the Israeli Ramla Prison, bringing the number of prisoners who died in detention since Oct. 7 to 10, the Palestinian Prisoners Club announced on Friday.  

“A prisoner from the Gaza Strip was martyred in the Israeli Ramla prison,” the non-governmental club stated. 

It indicated that the prisoner was arrested after the Israeli offensive launched on Gaza on Oct. 7, without details about his identity or date of arrest. 

On Wednesday, the club announced “the martyrdom of the prisoner Khalid al-Shaweesh, 53, from the Al-Far'a refugee camp near Tubas in the northern West Bank, in the Israeli Nafha prison.” 

Official and familial Palestinian sources confirm that Israel practices “isolation, starvation, and medical neglect” against Palestinian prisoners, as part of “unprecedented retaliatory and punitive measures” since Oct. 7. 

With the start of the destructive war on the Gaza Strip, Israel escalated its operations in the West Bank, leaving at least 400 killed and more than 4,500 injured, according to the Palestinian Ministry of Health, in addition to about 7,120 detainees according to the Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission and the Prisoners Club. 

Israel has pounded the Gaza Strip since a cross-border attack by Hamas, which Tel Aviv says killed nearly 1,200 people. 

The Israeli war on Gaza has pushed 85% of the territory's population into internal displacement amid acute shortages of food, clean water and medicine, while 60% of the enclave's infrastructure has been damaged or destroyed, according to the UN. 

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice. An interim ruling in January ordered Tel Aviv to stop genocidal acts and take measures to guarantee that humanitarian assistance is provided to civilians in Gaza. 

Hostilities have continued unabated, however, and aid deliveries remain woefully insufficient to address the humanitarian catastrophe.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala​​​​​​​