Young Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli prison

RAMALLAH, Palestine 

A young Palestinian in his early 20s who had been held in an Israeli prison for over 14 months under draconian "administrative detention" law died in custody, Palestinian prisoners' rights organizations said Sunday.

Mohamed Jaber, 22, died on Saturday, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement, citing the Palestinian Civil Affairs Authority, which liaises with Israeli authorities.

The statement added that Jaber, from the Dheisheh Refugee Camp in Bethlehem, southern West Bank, "had been held under administrative detention since Dec. 11, 2023, and was detained in the Negev Desert Prison of southern Israel before his martyrdom."

Though the statement did not go into detail about the circumstances surrounding his death, it did mention that Jaber had a severe wound in the abdomen a year and a half before his arrest.

“Part of his intestines was removed at that time, and he was arrested while in need of intensive medical care,” added the statement.

With the death of Jaber, the sixth administrative detainee to die in Israeli prisons since the beginning of the genocide in Gaza in October 2023, the total number of identified deaths among prisoners and detainees rose to 56, according to the statement.

The total number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons is estimated at around 10,400, according to data from the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society.

*Writing by Rania Abu Shamala