Gazan doctor being investigated by Israel's Shin Bet dies in custody

By Said Amouri

JERUSALEM (AA) - A prominent Palestinian doctor from the Gaza Strip has died in custody while being investigated by the country’s domestic security service, the Shin Bet, Israeli media reported Tuesday.

Dr. Iyad Rantisi, 53, the head of a women's hospital in northern Gaza's Beit Lahia, was detained by the Israeli army last November. He died six days after his detention.

Rantisi died at the Shikma prison, a Shin Bet interrogation facility in southern Israel's Ashkelon, according to the Israeli daily Haaretz.

Shin Bet said they arrested the Palestinian doctor over suspicion of involvement in hiding hostages.

The Israeli Justice Ministry has ordered an investigation into the circumstances of Rantisi's death.

The domestic intelligence agency offered no immediate comments on the media report.

Israel has faced international condemnation for its brutal offensive, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, on Gaza since the Oct. 7, 2023 Hamas incursion.

More than 37,350 Palestinians have since been killed in Gaza, most of them women and children, and over 85,400 others injured, according to local health authorities.

Over eight months into the Israeli war, vast tracts of Gaza lie in ruins amid a crippling blockade of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel stands accused of genocide at the International Court of Justice, whose latest ruling ordered it to immediately halt its operation in the southern city of Rafah, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.