Elderly Palestinian Political Detainee Killed in Israeli Occupation’s Custody
6/3/2025

Commission of Detainees’ Affairs & the Palestinian Prisoner's Society

Ramallah, Palestine - Israeli occupation authorities have disclosed the martyrdom of a 62-year-old Palestinian male detainee in their custody two weeks after his death: Ali Ashour Ali al-Batsh, who was abducted from the occupied Gaza Strip 14 months ago.

The Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs was informed only today, March 6, 2025, that al-Batsh lost his life on February 21. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and the Commission of Detainees' Affairs subsequently informed his family.

Al-Batsh, who is a husband and father to six children, was abducted by occupation forces on December 12, 2023. He lost his life days after he was transferred from the occupation’s Naqab prison where he was being held, to the Soroka Hospital.

Al-Batsh is the latest Palestinian political prisoner to be killed by the occupation in its custody. The rate and frequency of killings of Palestinian detainees is unprecedented, particularly since the genocide in Gaza. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society and the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs affirm once again that the Israeli occupation holds full responsibility for the murder of al-Batsh and dozens of other detainees in its custody - some of whom were tortured to death - and must be held accountable for these crimes.

Al-Batsh is the fourth Palestinian detainee to be martyred in just over a week. With his killing, the number of identified martyred Palestinian detainees since the start of the genocide on October 7, 2023, to 62 people, at least 40 of whom were abducted from the occupied Gaza Strip. As a result, the number of identified martyred Palestinian detainees since the occupation of 1967 has risen to 299 people. Additionally, the number of martyred detainees whose bodies are still being withheld by the occupation has risen to 71 people, including 60 people since the genocide.

The occupation army only responds sporadically and arbitrarily to legal requests for information, and often uses the pretext of an ‘ongoing investigation’ to evade accountability, and to torture Palestinians both physically and mentally as a matter of policy. The Israeli army is the only official side able to reveal the fate of martyred Palestinian detainees since there is no evidence of their killing with the army continuing to withhold their bodies.

The Commission and the PPS stress that the rate of Palestinian detainees losing their lives is unprecedented and will only increase with time. Thousands of Palestinians are held behind bars undergoing a myriad of severe violations including torture, starvation, sexual assault, deprivation of medical treatment, unsanitary conditions leading grave and infectious diseases. The international community must act now to save the lives of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli custody.