Detainee used as human shield by Israeli soldiers dies in Israeli custody

Occupied West Bank (Quds News Network)- More than a month after the shocking incident where Israeli occupation forces arrested the young Palestinian, Zahir Raddad, from the town of Saida, northeast of Tulkarm in the occupied West Bank, and used him as a human shield on a military Jeep while he was injured, it was announced today, Sunday, that he has died in an Israeli jail. His death serves as direct and additional evidence of the ongoing crimes committed by Israel against Palestinians.

Zahir Raddad was arrested on July 23, 2024, while injured, and was subsequently taken to the intensive care unit of an Israeli hospital, where he remained for over a month. His family received little information about his condition or the nature of his injuries. According to his uncle, Mohammed Raddad, “The family was in contact with the lawyer, prisoner advocacy organizations, and Doctors Without Borders, but all we knew was that he was in the ICU since his arrest.”

Conflicting reports about the location of Raddad’s injuries were received by the family, with some information indicating he was injured in the right side of his chest, while others suggested a thigh injury. Regardless of the exact nature of the injury, eyewitnesses reported that using him as a human shield on the front of a military jeep for over two hours during his arrest led directly to the deterioration of his health.

Raddad’s family is currently holding a mourning house for their son in Saida, northeast of Tulkarm, but they have not received any information regarding the release or retention of his body. They fear his body will be withheld, similar to dozens of other Palestinian detainees whose bodies remain in the custody of Israeli authorities.

A video widely circulated showed Radad being used as a human shield on the front of a military jeep during an Israeli military operation in Tulkarm last month. With Radad’s death, the number of Palestinian detainees who have died since October 7, 2023, in Israeli prisons and military camps due to torture, medical neglect, and starvation policies has risen to 23, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Club. However, this figure includes only those whose identities have been confirmed, while Israel continues to withhold the identities of many detainees from Gaza who have died in Israeli detention facilities.

Since 1967, a total of 260 Palestinian prisoners, whose identities are known, have died in Israeli detention. This number does not include dozens of other detainees from Gaza or those executed in the field during the ongoing war, whose identities remain unknown.

The Palestinian Detainees Media Office stated, “With the martyrdom of the wounded detainee Radad, the number of known Palestinian prisoners who have died after October 7 has reached 23, in addition to dozens from Gaza whose identities remain concealed by the occupation. This marks the highest number of deaths in the history of the Palestinian prisoner movement.”