JENIN, Palestinian Territories: A Palestinian woman died on Monday of wounds inflicted while she was held by Israeli forces two months ago, authorities in the occupied West Bank said.
“Former prisoner Wafaa Jarrar, 50, from Jenin... died Monday morning in Ibn Sina hospital in Jenin as a result of a very serious injury she sustained during her arrest,” the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said.
Approached by AFP, the Israeli military said it was looking into the matter.
Jarrar, the wife of a leading Hamas figure in Jenin, was arrested on May 21 and subsequently placed in administrative detention, which allows for detention without charge for an extended period.
According to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, a watchdog and advocacy group, Jarrar was released nine days after her arrest, despite being under administrative detention.
Following her release, she was taken to hospital where she remained unconscious until her death Monday morning.
Amani Sarahneh, spokeswoman for the Prisoners’ Club, told AFP Jarrar “died and her story was buried with her, as we don’t know exactly how she was wounded” while in detention.
The Commission and the Club both said in an obituary statement that Israel had committed a “crime” against Jarrar that led to the amputation of her legs above the knees in a hospital in the Israeli city of Afula.
The Prisoners’ Club said its lawyer had requested that Israeli authorities return her amputated legs and send her medical reports, but had not received a response.
It alleged that one of her legs had been amputated without the consent of her family.
Wafaa Jarrar was married to Hamas figure Abdul Jabbar Jarrar, who has also been under administrative detention for more than six months.
Since war broke out in October between Israel and Hamas in Gaza, tensions have soared in the occupied West Bank, which Israel has occupied since 1967.
At least 604 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli troops and settlers in the West Bank since October 7, according to an AFP tally based on official Palestinian figures.
At least 17 Israelis, including soldiers, have been killed by Palestinian attacks in the West Bank over the same period, according to official Israeli figures.
Thousands of Palestinians have been detained in Gaza, the West Bank and Israel since the start of the Israel-Hamas war, the United Nations human rights office said late last month.
They have mostly been held in secret and in some cases subjected to treatment that may amount to torture, the OHCHR said in a report.
Israel’s military has said its detention conditions are in line with international law.
