Three Palestinians Abducted from Gaza Die in Israeli Prisons, Raising Death Toll Among Detainees to 69 Since Start of Genocide
Occupied West Bank (Quds News Network)- Three Palestinian detainees abducted from Gaza during the Israeli assault have been announced dead in Israeli prisons, amid reports of torture and mistreatment.
In a joint statement on Thursday, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), and Addameer announced that Muhammad Ismail Al-Astal, 46, Ayman Abdul Hadi Qdeih, 56, and Bilal Talal Salamah, 24, died in Israel’s prisons.
The prisoner advocacy groups stated that Qdeih was detained on October 7, 2023 by Israeli forces, and, according to the Israeli response, died just five days later on October 12, 2023.
Salamah was arrested in March 2024 while fleeing Khan Younis amid an Israeli assault, and according to the occupation forces, he died on August 11, 2024.
Al-Astal was detained on February 7, 2024, and died on May 2 of this year.
Israel’s Torture of Palestinians
Israeli authorities have been accused of torturing Palestinian detainees. This includes being handcuffed and shackled 24 hours a day, seven days a week – even while sleeping, eating, and using the restroom. Testimonies also describe regular beatings by guards, extreme overcrowding, humiliation, and inadequate hygiene.
In August 2024, the Israeli rights group B’Tselem accused Israeli occupation authorities of systematically abusing Palestinians in “torture camps”, subjecting them to severe violence and sexual assault.
Its report, titled “Welcome to Hell”, is based on 55 testimonies from former detainees from the Gaza Strip, the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem, and citizens of Israel. The overwhelming majority of these detainees were held without trial.
At least 69 known detainees have died in Israeli prisons since 7 October 2023. Among them are at least 44 detainees from Gaza, the highest number in history, according to the prisoner groups.
Since 1967, a total of 306 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli occupation prisons. The groups said the identities of many martyrs among Gaza’s detainees remain undisclosed, as the Israeli occupation continues to conceal them, making this the “bloodiest stage in the history of the prisoner movement.
According to the Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies, more than half of the Palestinian prisoners who have died since October 2023, were killed primarily as a result of torture and abuse.
Due to the sharp rise in arrests—particularly among Gazans—Israel has opened new detention and interrogation centers operated directly by its military. According to the center, these facilities have become sites of “systematic torture and mistreatment, in clear violation of international law and human rights.”
The center also revealed that Israel has officially acknowledged the deaths of 36 detainees in Sde Teiman detention center since October 2023, though this number is likely only a fraction of the true toll. Many prisoners from Gaza have been subjected to forced disappearance and held incommunicado under inhumane conditions, creating an environment where extrajudicial killings can occur without oversight or accountability.
In addition to torture, the center documented 29 deaths resulting from medical negligence. Israel is reported to routinely deny prisoners access to basic medical care, holding them in unsanitary, disease-ridden conditions and delaying or outright refusing necessary treatment for extended periods. In many cases, prisoners are only transferred to hospitals when they are on the brink of death.
