Jenin: Forty-one-year-old Palestinian detainee, Khaled Mahmoud Qasim Abdullah, from Jenin refugee camp, has died in Israel's Megiddo Prison.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency - WAFA, an administrative detainee, died on February 23, 2025, in Megiddo Prison. His death adds to the growing list of Palestinians who have died as a result of what is described as systematic crimes committed by the Israeli prison system, an issue that has escalated since the beginning of the genocide.
Abdullah had been held under administrative detention since November 9, 2023. The Commission and PPS reported that Abdullah was married and a father of four children. He also has two brothers who are currently being held under administrative detention. According to his family, Abdullah had no prior health problems before his detention.
The Commission and PPS noted that Abdullah is the third detainee to die in the past week, bringing the total number of Palestinian detainees who have died in Israeli prisons since the start of the genocide in 2023 to 61, with identities known. At least 40 of these detainees are from Gaza, marking the highest number recorded.
This period has been the deadliest in the history of the Palestinian prisoner movement since 1967. Consequently, the total number of Palestinian detainees who have died in Israeli prisons since 1967 has risen to 298. The Commission and PPS highlighted that many detainees from Gaza remain subject to enforced disappearance, with 70 Palestinian detainees' bodies still being held, including 59 since the beginning of the aggression in 2023.
They stressed that Abdullah's death is another crime in the record of Israel's prison system, which has reached new extremes since the onset of the genocide. The Israeli occupation does not just kill detainees but deliberately conceals their fate for a period after their death, as was the case with many Gaza detainees, including Khaled Abdullah.
The Commission and PPS affirmed that the ongoing mistreatment of detainees is part of a larger genocide strategy, which aims to execute and eliminate more Palestinians through systematic means. They emphasized that the rising number of deaths among detainees will continue to grow as more Palestinians remain in Israeli prisons, where they face daily abuse, including torture, starvation, medical neglect, sexual violence, and conditions that lead to severe and contagious diseases. There is also an unprecedented level of deprivation and dispossession.
The Commission and PPS held the Israeli occupation fully responsible for the death of Abdullah. They reiterated their calls for the international human rights community to take decisive action to hold Israeli officials accountable for the ongoing war crimes against the Palestinian people. They called for imposing sanctions to isolate Israel internationally and restore the role of the international human rights system, which has been severely weakened during the genocide. They also urged an end to the exceptional immunity Israel has been granted by colonial powers, which have allowed it to evade accountability and punishment.
