LONDON: A 22-year-old Palestinian detainee died on Tuesday in an Israeli hospital, the Palestinian government’s Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs Committee, and the nongovernmental Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said.
Ahmad Khdeirat, who had been in custody since May 23, 2024, is reportedly the 78th prisoner to die in Israeli detention since Oct. 7, 2023.
The Prisoner’s Society accused the Israeli prison authority of “deliberate” medical negligence. Khdeirat had diabetes before his detention, it said, and he contracted scabies while held in the notorious Negev prison. His health deteriorated during captivity, including episodes of hunger, a drop in blood sugar levels, and a 40 kilogram weight loss, the organization added.
Khdeirat was held under administrative detention, which grants Israeli authorities the power to imprison people without charge or trial for a six-month period that can be renewed indefinitely. He lived in the city of Adh-Dhahiriya, 22 kilometers southwest of Hebron in the southern West Bank.
According to Palestinian rights group Addameer, 3,544 Palestinians are held under administrative detention, out of a total of 11,100 political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers. They include 400 children and 53 women.
