A Palestinian man died a week after being released from an Israeli prison in critical condition, two prisoners' affairs groups said late Monday.
The Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement that 67-year-old Khaled al-Saifi from the Dheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem was released "in an extremely critical health condition as a result of the crimes he was subjected to during his most recent (administrative) detention, which lasted four months."
Administrative detention is imprisonment by an Israeli military order on the grounds of an alleged security threat, without charges or trial. It is issued for up to six months and can be renewed, with intelligence services submitting what is known as a secret file that lawyers are barred from accessing.
The statement added that shortly before al-Saifi's health deteriorated and he was transferred from Ofer Prison in the central West Bank to the Ramla Prison Clinic in central Israel, the prison administration "administered him with an injection they claimed was for influenza, which caused him severe inflammation," followed by another injection that required his transfer to Ramla prison.
The two prisoners' affairs groups accused Israel of "deliberately detaining him in order to liquidate and physically assassinate him through slow execution," adding that once prison authorities realized he had reached a critical stage, they decided to release him.
They noted that al-Saifi was the founder and director of the Ibda'a Cultural Center in Bethlehem and "one of the most prominent cultural, social and political figures in Dheisheh camp."
They said he was placed under administrative detention twice since the start of Israel's war on Gaza in October 2023, despite his advanced age, deteriorating health and urgent need for medical care, calling this "additional evidence that the occupation insisted on liquidating him," the statement said.
According to the two groups, Israel has killed more than 100 prisoners and detainees since the start of the genocide, with the identities of 87 announced, while dozens of detainees from Gaza who died in custody had been subjected to enforced disappearance.
Palestinian, Israeli and international reports have repeatedly warned of the torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons, including severe beatings, medical neglect, starvation and sexual assault.
Recently released Palestinian detainees have also reported systematic torture and cases of rape, appearing emaciated, with some showing symptoms of mental illness due to abuse.
