Palestinian political detainee from Jenin camp - held without trial or charge - killed in occupation's prison
3/3/2025

Commission of Detainees' Affairs & Palestinian Prisoners' Society

Ramallah, Palestine - Israeli occupation authorities have disclosed the killing of a 40-year-old Palestinian political detainee from the Jenin refugee camp last week, who was being held in their Megiddo prison. The Palestinian General Authority of Civil Affairs was informed only this morning that the detainee Khaled Mahmoud Qassem Abdullah was martyred more than a week ago, on February 23.

The details of his killing remain unclear as occupation authorities continue to impose a lethal information blackout on the prisoners. Nevertheless, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs affirm that the Israeli occupation bears full responsibility for the killing of Khaled Abdullah and all other prisoners who were martyred in a myriad of horrific ways including sexual torture and rape.

Khaled Abdullah was arrested by occupation forces on November 9, 2023, and had been held since then under Israel’s notorious ‘administrative detention’ policy, without trial or charge. He was married and a father to four children. Two of Khaled’s brothers, Shadi and Iyad Abdullah, are also being held in Israel’s military prison system without trial or charge.

Khaled Abdullah is the latest Palestinian political detainee to be murdered by Israeli prison authorities and guards – whether directly or indirectly. He is the third Palestinian political prisoner to be killed within the span of the past week, bringing the number of identified martyred detainees since the start of the genocide to 61 people. At least 40 people of those were arrested from Gaza.

Since the start of the genocide, the rate of prisoners being killed inside the occupation’s prisons and military camps is unprecedented. Dozens more have been killed with the occupation refusing to reveal their fate or identities, leaving countless families in fear and psychological torture.

The total number of identified martyred detainees since the occupation of 1967 is 298 people. Additionally, the number of martyred prisoners whose bodies are being withheld by the occupation has risen to 70 people, 59 of whom have been abducted since the start of 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 and prevent them from being murdered