Israeli army hands over ‘tortured’ body of Palestinian detainee in West Bank

By Qais Abu Samra

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – The Israeli army handed over the body of a Palestinian detainee on Monday to the Red Crescent Society after his arrest in the occupied West Bank with the body carrying signs of torture, according to Palestinian sources.

The Red Crescent Society said in a statement that its teams received the body of a 50-year-old detainee at the Salem checkpoint in the Jenin area.

The official news agency Wafa, citing Palestinian security sources, identified the detainee as Ayman Rajeh Abed from the town of Kafr Dan, west of Jenin.

He was arrested at dawn on Monday and his body showed signs of torture, the sources said.

The Israeli army continued a large-scale military offensive in Jenin and the northern West Bank for the sixth consecutive day on Monday, killing at least 30 Palestinians and causing massive destruction in the area.

Dozens of Palestinian families have fled their homes in the Jenin refugee camp amid the ongoing Israeli offensive in the area, according to an Anadolu reporter.

Tensions have been running high across the occupied West Bank amid a brutal Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, which has killed more than 40,700 Palestinians, mostly women and children, since Oct. 7 last year.

At least 682 Palestinians have since been killed, nearly 5,600 injured and 10,400 others detained in the occupied territory, according to Palestinian figures.

The escalation followed a landmark opinion by the International Court of Justice on July 19 that declared Israel's decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio