Ramallah: A Palestinian detainee has died in Israeli custody, according to the Prisoners’ Affairs Commission (PAC) and the Palestine Prisoner’s Society (PPS). They announced in a joint press release that the detainee, Mohammad Walid Hussein Ali, aged 45 and a resident of the Nur Shams refugee camp in the northern West Bank, passed away while being held by Israeli authorities.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA, Ali had a history of imprisonment, having spent approximately 20 years in Israeli prisons and detention centers. He was rearrested on November 28, 2024. Current statistics from Addameer, the Palestinian Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, indicate that there are 10,200 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli prisons and detention centers. This number includes 270 children and 94 female prisoners.
Among these detainees, 3,443 Palestinians are under ‘administrative detention,’ a controversial practice that allows for detention without charge or trial. Detentions can
be extended for three to six months based on undisclosed evidence, which even the detainees’ lawyers cannot access. The practice has been widely criticized as a violation of human rights.
The mass arrest and detention of Palestinians are longstanding issues. A 2017 report by Addameer highlighted that over the previous 50 years, more than 800,000 Palestinians had been imprisoned or detained by Israel. This figure is now estimated to be closer to 1 million, affecting nearly 40% of Palestinian men and boys living under military occupation. Consequently, almost every Palestinian family has experienced the imprisonment of a family member.