Rights group calls for disclosure of Gaza detainees’ fate, investigation into Israeli abuses

A Palestinian prisoners’ rights group has called for disclosure of the circumstances surrounding the killing of Gaza detainee Ihab Mohammed Abdul Qader Diab, and a detailed investigation into Israeli abuses.

The Asra Media Office stated on Sunday that Israel’s revelation about the killing of Diab, after nearly two years of secrecy regarding his fate, implies that there may be an unknown number of abductees from the besieged coastal sliver who have been killed in Israeli custody without their deaths being reported.

It added that Diab’s case underscores the issue of enforced disappearances among Palestinian detainees from Gaza.

It noted that Israeli authorities confirmed his death in September 2024, even though he had been in custody since December 2023, without notifying his family about his situation or the details of his demise.

The advocacy group stated that the announcement of Diab’s killing raises apprehensions regarding the possibility that an unspecified number of detainees in Gaza may have perished while in Israeli custody, with details regarding their circumstances, detention sites, and conditions of confinement still being concealed.

The office reported that Diab’s killing raises the total number of Palestinian prisoners who have been killed in Israeli custody since 1967 to 328, with 91 of those killings occurring since October 7, 2023.

Among these, 53 were detainees from the Gaza Strip. Furthermore, Israeli authorities are still withholding the bodies of 99 Palestinian prisoners who have been killed while in custody.

It concluded that the responsibility for such crimes rests squarely on Israeli authorities, calling on international institutions to disclose the fate of detainees from the Gaza Strip, conduct independent investigations into accounts of killings, torture, and enforced disappearances, and bring those accountable to justice.

Israel intensifies torture, slow killing of Palestinian inmates by banning family visits: Rights group

A Palestinian prisoners’ rights group says Israeli authorities have entrenched torture and slow killing of Palestinian prisoners by the decision to renew the ban on family visits to the inmates detainees in Israeli detention centers.

Earlier on Sunday, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said it had obtained an official confirmation from the Israeli Prison Service regarding the killing of Diab.

The commission stated in a press release that the Israeli Prison Service asserted that Diab, 36, had experienced a health issue.

Diab’s family refuted the Israeli narrative, maintaining that he was in good health and had no known medical conditions at the time of his abduction.

According to the commission, it is believed that Diab was killed on September 18, 2024, roughly nine months following his detention by Israeli forces.

Palestinian prisoners’ organizations report that Israel is currently illegally detaining approximately 9,500 Palestinians, which includes 350 children, 99 women, and 3,244 individuals held under administrative detention. There are also numerous reports of torture, starvation, and medical neglect.

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