Palestinian authorities announce death of young man detained in Israel

Palestinian authorities announced Monday the death of a 22-year-old Palestinian who had been detained in Israel for over a year, where prisoners according to them are subjected to "systemic crimes" under dangerous detention conditions.

They did not specify the circumstances of his death but stressed that Lo'ay Faiçal Nasrallah, imprisoned since March 2024 under administrative detention, had no previous health issues according to his family.

The Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Commission, which is part of the Palestinian Authority, and the Palestinian Prisoners' Club denounce in a joint statement the "organized crimes perpetrated by the Israeli occupation's prison system." According to the two entities, Palestinian detainees in Israel are subjected daily to "torture, starvation, physical assaults, medical crimes, sexual assaults, and deliberate conditions promoting the spread of serious infectious diseases."

Nasrallah was incarcerated in the Negev prison in southern Israel, known as a hotbed for the spread of scabies, they report. His death brings to 73, by their count, the number of Palestinians who have died in detention in Israel since the start of the Gaza war triggered by the unprecedented attack by the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas on Israeli soil on Oct. 7, 2023.

Organizations defending the rights of Palestinian prisoners have documented a total of 310 Palestinian deaths in Israeli prisons since 1967 and Israel's occupation of the West Bank.

"The increasing number of martyrs among prisoners is taking an ever more dangerous turn as thousands of them continue to be detained in the occupation's prisons," they warn. Contacted by AFP, the Israeli prison authorities have not commented immediately.