Palestinian ambulance officer from Gaza dies in Israeli custody

Rights groups say the medic, 59, was detained for more than a year

By Awad Rajoob

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) - A Palestinian ambulance officer from the Gaza Strip has died while held in an Israeli prison, more than a year after his arrest, two Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups said on Thursday.

The Palestinian Civil Affairs Authority, the official liaison with Israel, said Hatem Ismail Rayan, 59, died in Israel’s Negev Prison in southern Israel, according to a joint statement by the Palestinian Prisoner Society and the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs.

Rayan was detained on Dec. 27, 2024, from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza. His son, Moaz, who was wounded at the time of arrest, remains in Israeli custody, the statement added.

The two organizations said that as of Jan. 12, at least 87 Palestinian detainees whose identities are known have died in Israeli prisons since the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, citing torture, starvation, sexual abuse, and systematic denial of basic rights, alongside degrading and inhumane detention conditions.

They estimate the overall number of Palestinian detainees who have died in custody has surpassed 100, noting that dozens of prisoners from Gaza remain forcibly disappeared. The groups also reported that dozens of Palestinians were summarily executed in the field.

Since 1967, the total number of Palestinian prisoners known to have died in Israeli custody has reached 324, according to the two organizations. They added that Israel continues to hold the bodies of 95 deceased prisoners whose identities are known, including 84 who died after the start of the Gaza war.

Other Palestinian prisoner groups say more than 9,300 Palestinians were held in Israeli prisons as of Feb. 5, including about 350 children.

An Oct. 10 ceasefire agreement ended Israel’s two-year war that began on Oct. 8, 2023. Palestinian authorities say the conflict killed more than 72,000 Palestinians, wounded over 171,000 others and caused widespread destruction affecting 90% of civilian infrastructure. The UN estimates reconstruction costs at approximately $70 billion.

At least 591 Palestinians have been killed and over 1,578 others injured in Israeli attacks since the ceasefire, according to Gaza’s Health Ministry.

*Writing by Mohammad Sio in Istanbul

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