A Palestinian man died Monday in an Israeli hospital from wounds sustained from gunfire by occupiers in the occupied West Bank before he was detained by army forces, according to Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups, Anadolu reports.
The Palestinian Prisoner Society and the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs said in a joint statement that 29-year-old Qusai Ibrahim Ali Rayyan died at Beilinson Hospital in Israel.
The groups said Rayyan, a father of one from the town of Qarawat Bani Hassan near Salfit in the northern West Bank, was detained by Israeli forces on April 15 after Israeli authorities alleged he attempted to carry out “a stabbing attack.”
According to the statement, Israeli authorities extended his detention for eight days.
The groups said a lawyer handling the case repeatedly demanded information about Rayyan’s medical condition after he appeared to be in critical condition during a video conference. They said the lawyer was informed Rayyan had lost consciousness and was connected to life-support equipment.
During a later court session, Israeli authorities informed the lawyer that no further detention extension request had been filed and that a decision had been made to release him, but that his critical medical condition required him to remain hospitalized.
When the lawyer contacted the hospital, “a social worker” assigned to communicate with the family said she had no information about his condition, the statement added.
The two organizations rejected Israeli prosecutors’ allegations that Rayyan intended to carry out “a stabbing attack,” describing the claims as “false and baseless.” They argued that the circumstances indicate Rayyan “was killed in cold blood based on false allegations.”
READ: EU agrees to lift sanctions on Syria’s interior, defense ministers
The groups said the incident was the latest in ongoing Israeli “crimes” against Palestinians since the start of the Gaza war, including field executions across Palestinian territories.
They also said killings in the West Bank have escalated alongside occupiers’ violence, accusing them of becoming “a central tool” in attacks on Palestinians under the “full protection” of Israeli forces.
The statement noted that hundreds of wounded Palestinians detained since the start of the Gaza war remain imprisoned under harsh and tragic conditions. The organizations held Israeli authorities fully responsible for Rayyan’s death and renewed calls on international human rights institutions to intervene.
Illegal Israeli settlement expansion in the occupied West Bank has accelerated since Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu formed his government in late 2022, according to the Israeli rights group Peace Now.
Palestinian estimates show that about 750,000 Israeli occupiers live in the occupied West Bank, including around 250,000 in East Jerusalem.
Since the start of the genocide in Gaza in October 2023, Israeli forces and occupiers have intensified operations across the West Bank, killing more than 1,000 Palestinians and wounding about 12,000 others, according to Palestinian figures.
READ: EU cannot continue to be ‘bystanders’ on Gaza, West Bank, says Irish foreign minister
