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Middle East Eye
a day ago
- Politics
- Middle East Eye
Palestinian prisoner death toll rises as elderly man from Gaza dies in Israeli detention
An elderly man from Gaza has died in Israeli detention, bringing the overall death toll of Palestinian prisoners to at least 71 since 7 October 2023. Though the Israeli army had notified two Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups, the Palestinian Prisoners' Club and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, of his death in recent days, 70-year-old Hussein Abu Habel actually died on 10 January. Forty-five of the 71 Palestinians known to have died in Israeli-run detention centres and prisons since the start of the war on Gaza were from Gaza and their identities were known. In what has been described by the two prisoner advocacy groups as the "bloodiest phase in the history of the prisoner movement" and the "most severe" in detention conditions, the total number of identified Palestinian prisoners to have died since 1967 has risen to 308. "The case of the martyr Abu Habel is added to the record of the Israeli system of brutality, which operates around the clock through a series of organised crimes to kill prisoners and detainees," the prisoner advocacy groups said in a statement. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "These crimes constitute another aspect of the ongoing genocide and an extension of it." Torture, sexual assault, negiligence Abu Habel, who was married and the father of 11 children, was arrested on 12 November. The prisoner groups said they held Israel fully responsible for his death and demanded an international investigation into the deaths of Palestinian detainees. They said that reports on detainees and the circumstances of their deaths have been "limited to the army's narrative", as prison authorities continue to withhold some of the prisoners' bodies and have failed to disclose the cause of death. The statement emphasised that "torture crimes" constituted the "primary cause" of death for most Palestinian detainees killed since the beginning of the war on Gaza, alongside "escalating medical crimes, starvation and rape crimes". The Palestinian Prisoners' Club and the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said the situation in Israeli prisons was taking "a more dangerous turn". According to the advocacy groups, Palestinian prisoners continue to be exposed to "systemic crimes", including starvation, torture, medical crimes and negiligence, sexual assaults, and the deliberate placing of them in poor and crowded conditions that lead to serious and contagious diseases. In a press release, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel (PCATI), an NGO established to monitor the use of torture and ill-treatment by Israeli security services against Palestinians under detention, noted a gap of 144 detainees in the state's data. "The fate of these detainees is unknown, and unexplained by state authorities," the statement read. Tal Steiner, the group's executive director, called on Israeli authorities to "provide complete explanations regarding the fate of the 144 missing detainees, and to immediately change the legislation that violates the fundamental rights of detainees. "The disturbing reports of torture in detention facilities and harsh living conditions that have even led to the deaths of many detainees require immediate investigation and fundamental change in the treatment of detainees." Administrative detention and 'unlawful combatants' As of June, there are over 10,400 Palestinians held in Israeli-run prisons, not including those held under military administrative detention. With regards to Palestinians held in military prisons under administrative detention, there are 49 women, over 440 children and 3,562 men, according to the Commission of Detainees Affairs. War on Gaza: Israel imprisoned 82-year-old Palestinian woman as 'unlawful combatant' Read More » Administrative detention allows Israel's military to hold prisoners indefinitely, citing alleged secret information, without charging them or allowing them to stand trial. While the period of detention lasts six months, it can be renewed indefinitely. Access to a lawyer varies from case to case, though, and detainees don't know what the charges against them are. An additional 2,214 detainees held by military authorities are from Gaza and have been classified as "unlawful combatants". The majority of people from Gaza held under the unlawful combatant law don't have charges against them either. Steiner said the legislation "enables serious rights violations that are incompatible with democratic values and international law". Released Palestinians from Gaza have spoken of how they were interrogated about whether they supported Hamas, where they lived and other details about their lives - but not presented with a single charge. Since Israel launched a ground invasion of Gaza in late October 2023, its forces have seized hundreds of civilians from their homes or while they were fleeing fighting through "safe corridors". Some have been released after interrogation but many have been taken to undisclosed locations, including mothers separated from their babies.
Middle East Eye
18-04-2025
- Health
- Middle East Eye
Hussam Abu Safiya's 'inhumane conditions' in Israeli detention worsening
Hussam Abu Safiya and other Palestinian prisoners in Israeli-run detention centres are facing increasingly "inhumane conditions" and torture, according to his lawyer. Gheed Kassem said in an interview with Alaraby TV that she has visited the paediatrician, who is the director of Gaza's Kamal Adwan hospital, three times, with "each visit being more difficult than the one before". "To be honest, what I have heard from him was incredibly shocking, to the point where I don't even know if its right to reveal to the media," she said. According to Kassem, detainees from Gaza were "beaten and assaulted in a monstrous way" during the celebration of Eid al-Fitr earlier this month. "I have not met one prisoner in the last week, unfortunately, who was not beaten or assaulted," she said. New MEE newsletter: Jerusalem Dispatch Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other MEE newsletters "The situation is escalating, the starvation is increasing, the torture is increasing, the isolation from the outside world is increasing, the threats are increasing, and no one has been able to put a boundary for these escalations." Abu Safiya's lawyer said even an able-bodied healthy individual would come out suffering with health conditions following Israeli detainment. Kassem stressed that Abu Safiya is not the only innocent prisoner facing such cruel conditions, but in fact, entire medical crews and even patients who were detained from inside Gaza hospitals are suffering the same. "As rights advocates and lawyers, we are ashamed to even talk about the levels of torture happening," she said, citing stomping on faces, humiliation and forced consumption of sewage water as some of the lighter treatment Palestinians face. Kassem noted that prisoners are forced to take part in acts that would be "morally denounced worldwide". "Their honour is stepped on every day, every minute. Their mistreatment is incredibly horrible." Dr Abu Safiya symbolised humanity in Gaza. Israel and the West are destroying it Read More » In the case of Abu Safiya, she says his head was hit on a metal pillar just days ago. Abu Safiya has been categorised as an "unlawful combatant" under Israel - despite him being a civilian doctor, which means there is no formal indictment against him. He is set to remain in administrative detention until at least September or October. Addameer, a Palestinian prisoners' rights group, says nearly 10,000 Palestinians are currently imprisoned, including around 400 children and 27 women. It estimates that roughly 40 percent of all Palestinian men have been detained at some point by Israel in their lifetime. The group also reports that almost 3,500 people are being held under administrative detention - imprisoned without formal charges or access to legal proceedings. In late October, Abu Safiya's son was killed by an Israeli raid on the Kamal Adwan hospital. "Despite the monstrous happenings inside the prisons, medical personnele, including Doctor Hussam Abu Safiya, until now their main concern is the state of hospitals in the Gaza Strip," Kassem said. "Until this second, the thing that he asks about is the conditions hospitals are facing amid the current and apparent genocide in Gaza."
Al Jazeera
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Al Jazeera
Israel shuts down UNRWA-affiliated schools in occupied East Jerusalem
Israel has shut down six schools run by the United Nations agency for Palestinian refugees after moving to banish the organisation from the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem early this year. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees (UNRWA) said in a statement that Israeli police forcibly entered schools in the East Jerusalem neighbourhoods of Shuafat, Silwan, Sur Baher and Wadi al-Joz on Tuesday. Officials from the Israeli Ministry of Education were also on hand. They issued orders to close the schools within 30 days. 'If we are forced to close, the consequences will be dire as the children will be deprived of their basic right to education, which will exacerbate their suffering and negatively affect their future,' said Abir Ismail, director of UNRWA's information office. UNRWA chief Philippe Lazzarini said in a statement that Israel's orders were a 'violation' of international law and the rules granting the UN operations protection from local jurisdictions. 'Some 800 boys and girls are directly impacted by these closure orders and are likely to miss finishing their school year,' Lazzarini Jazeera correspondent Nour Odeh said the closure of the UNRWA schools is 'extremely problematic' because the children would likely end up at Israeli institutions run by the Jerusalem Municipality. She explained that the children admitted to Israeli schools would no longer be taught under the Palestinian curriculum. 'It is an Israeli-run curriculum that Palestinians say ignores and erases Palestinian identity,' Odeh said from Jordan's capital, Amman. Al Jazeera is reporting from Jordan because it has been banned from Israel and the West Bank. UNRWA currently provides humanitarian assistance to about 750,000 Palestinians. Ismail said the aid agency maintained its 'firm commitment to continue providing educational services to Palestine refugees in East Jerusalem, including the current academic year'. However, Israel has accused UNRWA employees of involvement in the Hamas-led attacks on southern Israel on October 7, 2023, a charge vehemently denied by the UN. Last year, in the aftermath of those allegations, the Israeli Knesset passed two bills prohibiting UNRWA from conducting activities within Israel's borders and making it illegal for Israeli officials to have any contact with UNRWA. Those measures have been in effect since January. Odeh said Israel started implementing its ban by refusing to engage with UNRWA on the subject of aid to Gaza. But now, she explained, the country has moved on to targeting the agency's operations and headquarters in occupied East Jerusalem. That move, she said, is likely to have a 'crippling effect' on UNRWA's operations 'in 19 other refugee camps' across the occupied West Bank, affecting 'Palestinians who rely on the agency, not just for education but also for health services, for psychosocial support'. Odeh added that Israel has accelerated its implementation of the UNRWA ban since the start of its 'Iron Wall' military incursion in the West Bank in January. The operation was launched just two days after a ceasefire took effect in Gaza. It has involved the Israeli military bombing and bulldozing communities across the West Bank, razing entire residential areas in what critics fear is a bid to move towards full annexation. More than 40,000 Palestinians have been uprooted from the Jenin and Tulkarem refugee camps as part of the military campaign. UNRWA was established by the UN General Assembly in 1949 to provide assistance to Palestinians displaced from their land during the creation of Israel in 1948, an event known to Palestinians as the Nakba, or 'catastrophe'.
Asharq Al-Awsat
07-04-2025
- General
- Asharq Al-Awsat
'Thirst War': A Parallel Battle Gazans Fight Without Weapons
Gaza is grappling with an acute water shortage as Israel tightens its blockade, closing border crossings, halting fuel supplies, and cutting off two main water lines since early January—around two weeks before a ceasefire took effect on the 19th of the same month. 'For six days, no water has reached us—not from the municipality nor from the wells dug in the area, as there's no fuel to power the generators,' said 57-year-old Mohammed al-Uraini, a resident of al-Shati refugee camp in western Gaza City, speaking to Asharq Al-Awsat. Even before the war, Gaza was already facing a severe water crisis due to the long-standing Israeli blockade. In 2019, UNICEF estimated that only 1 in 10 residents had direct access to safe drinking water. At the time, Gaza's population was 1.8 million; it has since surpassed two million. Fuel Shortages UNICEF warned in a statement last Saturday that the average daily water supply for one million people in Gaza—including 400,000 children—has dropped from 16 liters per person to just 6. The agency warned that if fuel runs out in the coming weeks, that figure could fall to below 4 liters, forcing families to rely on unsafe water sources and raising the risk of disease outbreaks, especially among children. The United Nations defines the minimum daily requirement for personal and household water use as 50–100 liters per person. Tamer Al-Nahal, 61, owns a water well that used to supply more than 50 neighboring homes in al-Shati. He told Asharq Al-Awsat he can no longer afford the 10 liters of fuel required to operate the well. 'Each liter used to cost about 20 shekels ($6), but now it's around 70 shekels ($19),' he said. Occasionally, local institutions would donate fuel to power generators, but these contributions have stopped due to rising costs. Many Gaza families are now forced to carry water in plastic jugs for distances up to 500 meters just to find water fit for human use. Long Queues and Rising Hardship Ezzedine Abu Hammam, 24, from Gaza's western port area, said he spends more than an hour daily in a long queue to collect around 50 liters of drinking water, which he then carries up to the fourth-floor apartment where his 13-member family lives. 'It's exhausting to wait that long just for a small amount of water, and then carry it upstairs,' he said. 'Even when municipal water was available, it was so salty it tasted like seawater, but at least it eased the burden.' According to Gaza's Health Ministry, the water crisis is exacerbating public health risks, increasing the spread of diarrhea and skin diseases. The ministry reported 52 child deaths linked to these conditions, including malnutrition. 'Worsening the Crisis' Assem al-Nabeeh, spokesperson for the Gaza Municipality, said the city—like the rest of the Strip—is facing a severe thirst crisis due to renewed Israeli military operations and incursions into some areas. He explained to Asharq Al-Awsat that the Israeli-run 'Mekorot' water line, which supplied nearly 70% of Gaza City's needs, was shut down last Thursday. As a result, the city and other municipalities have lost access to groundwater wells, which were previously powered using fuel. 'Some alternative water sources have also been destroyed by airstrikes or ground operations,' he added, citing the complete destruction of wells in Gaza City's al-Zaytoun neighborhood as a deliberate move to deepen the humanitarian crisis.
Iraqi News
15-02-2025
- Politics
- Iraqi News
Hamas releases hostages, Palestinian prisoners freed in latest Gaza swap
Khan Yunis – Palestinian militants handed three Israeli hostages over to the Red Cross on Saturday, while buses carrying freed Palestinian prisoners rolled out of two Israeli jails in the latest exchange under an ongoing Gaza truce deal. An AFP journalist saw masked Hamas militants parade the hostages onto a stage in Gaza's southern city of Khan Yunis, where they were told to address the crowd before their handover to the Red Cross. Clutching gift bags given by their captors and a certificate to mark the end of their captivity, the three men, flanked by fighters, called for the completion of further hostage exchanges under the ceasefire deal. Not long after, a busload of Palestinian prisoners departed the Israeli-run Ofer Prison and was greeted by a cheering crowd in the occupied West Bank city of Ramallah, an AFP journalist saw. More buses full of prisoners pulled out of an Israeli prison in the Negev desert heading towards Gaza, according to another AFP journalist. Saturday's swap, the sixth since the truce took effect on January 19, came after fears that the deal between Israel and Hamas was near collapse. The Palestinian group had threatened to pause hostage releases over alleged violations, while Israel threatened to resume the war if it did, but on Friday both sides signalled the swap would go ahead as originally planned. Scores of militants were deployed and a crowd of onlookers turned out to watch the hostage release in Khan Yunis, as Palestinian nationalist music played in the background. A crowd also gathered in Tel Aviv's 'Hostages Square' to watch the exchange, with many carrying Israeli flags and posters with messages including 'Sorry and welcome back' and 'Complete the ceasefire'. The office of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had named the hostages as Israeli-American Sagui Dekel-Chen, Israeli-Russian Sasha Trupanov and Israeli-Argentine Yair Horn. The Israeli military later confirmed all three were back in Israeli territory. They had been held by Gaza militants since Hamas's October 7, 2023 attack on Israel that sparked the war 16 months ago. – More talks – The Palestinian Prisoners' Club advocacy group said Israel was to release 369 inmates in exchange, with 24 of them expected to be deported. Almost all of the rest are 'prisoners from the Gaza Strip who were arrested after October 7', the group said. After the deal had appeared to be on the brink of collapse, a Hamas official on Friday said the group expected talks on a second phase of the ceasefire to begin early next week. Another source familiar with the talks offered a similar timeline. The negotiations on the second phase are meant to lay out steps towards a more permanent end to the war. United States Secretary of State Marco Rubio, whose country is Israel's top backer and one of the truce mediators, is due to arrive in Israel late Saturday ahead of expected talks with Netanyahu on the Gaza truce. Last week's release sparked anger in Israel and beyond after the freed hostages were paraded onstage, with their emaciated state sparking concern over conditions in captivity. Israeli-American hostage Keith Siegel, released in a previous exchange, said he was 'starved and… tortured, both physically and emotionally' during his captivity. There were also fears for Palestinians in Israeli custody, and the Red Crescent said four of the released Palestinians were transferred to hospital. – Riyadh summit – The ceasefire has been under massive strain since US President Donald Trump proposed a takeover of the Gaza Strip under which the territory's population of more than two million people would be moved to Egypt or Jordan. For Palestinians, any forced displacement evokes memories of the 'Nakba', or catastrophe — the mass displacement of their ancestors during Israel's creation in 1948. The stage set up for the release on Saturday bore an illustrated poster appearing to depict the final moments of Hamas's leader Yahya Sinwar, who Israeli forces killed in October. It showed the Al-Aqsa Mosque visible through a hole in the wall of a destroyed building along with the slogan: 'No displacement except to Jerusalem'. Arab countries have come together to reject Trump's plan, and Saudi Arabia will host the leaders of Egypt, Jordan, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates on Thursday for a summit on the issue. A joint statement from the heads of Christian churches in Jerusalem on Saturday also spoke out against any forced displacement, saying Gazans 'who have lived for generations in the land of their ancestors, must not be forced into exile, stripped of… their right to remain in the land that forms the essence of their identity'. The October 7, 2023 attack on Israel resulted in the deaths of 1,211 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally of Israeli official figures. Militants also took 251 hostages, of whom 70 remain in Gaza, including 35 the Israeli military says are dead. Netanyahu's office said shortly after Saturday's release that it was working with the United States to free the remaining hostages 'as quickly as possible', without offering specifics. Israel's retaliatory campaign has killed at least 48,239 people in Gaza, the majority of them civilians, according to figures from the health ministry in the Hamas-run territory that the United Nations considers reliable.
