Injured Palestinian detainee used as human shield dies at Israeli hospital

By Awad Rajoub
RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – An injured Palestinian detainee was pronounced dead at an Israeli hospital on Sunday, according to prisoners’ affairs groups.
Zahir Tahseen Raddad, 19, was detained last month after he was shot and injured by Israeli army fire in the town of Saida, north of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank.
A joint statement by the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said Raddad breathed his last at Meir Hospital in central Israel early Sunday.
According to the statement, Raddad was used as a human shield by Israeli army soldiers, who placed him on the front of a military vehicle during a raid in the town.
His death brought to 23 the number of Palestinian detainees, who have died inside Israeli prisons since Oct. 7, 2023, according to Palestinian figures.
Tensions have been running high across the West Bank since Israel launched a military offensive against the Gaza Strip that has killed over 40,400 Palestinians since last October.
At least 641 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,400 others injured in the occupied West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.
In a landmark advisory opinion on July 19, the International Court of Justice declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
* Writing by Ikram Kouachi