GAZA, (Palestine Foundation Information Center), The Asra Media Office said Israel’s disclosure on Sunday of the death of Gaza detainee Ihab Mohammed Abdul Qader Diab, after his fate had been concealed for nearly two years, indicates that an unknown number of detainees from the Gaza Strip may have died in Israeli custody without their deaths being disclosed.
In a press statement, the office said Diab’s case highlights the enforced disappearance of Gaza detainees. It said Israeli authorities acknowledged that he died in September 2024, despite having detained him since December 2023, without informing his family of his fate or the circumstances surrounding his death.
The office said the disclosure of Diab’s death raises concerns that an unknown number of Gaza detainees may have died in Israeli custody, while information about their fate, places of detention, and conditions of confinement remains withheld.
According to the office, Diab’s documented death brings the number of Palestinian prisoners who have died in Israeli custody since 1967 to 328, including 91 since October 7, 2023. Of those, 53 were detainees from the Gaza Strip. Israeli authorities continue to withhold the bodies of 99 Palestinian prisoners who died in custody, it added.
The Asra Media Office held Israeli authorities fully responsible for these crimes and called on international institutions to disclose the fate of detainees from the Gaza Strip, launch independent investigations into allegations of killings, torture, and enforced disappearance, and hold those responsible accountable.
Earlier on Sunday, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs said it had received an official response from the Israeli Prison Service confirming the death of 36-year-old Gaza detainee Ihab Mohammed Diab.
In a press statement, the commission said the Israeli Prison Service claimed that Diab had suffered from a health condition.
Diab’s family rejected the Israeli account, according to the commission, saying he was in good health and had no known illnesses when he was detained.
The commission said it believed Diab died on September 18, 2024, approximately nine months after his detention by Israeli forces.
There are currently 9,400 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons, including 94 women, 350 children, and 3,244 administrative detainees held without charge. Another 1,320 are detained under Israel’s so-called “Unlawful Combatants Law,” while the number of documented arrests since the start of the war on Gaza has exceeded 24,600.
