Hamas leader killed in Israeli prison

Hamas leader Mustafa Muhammad Abu Ara was killed in an Israeli prison, raising the number of detainees who have been killed since 7 October to 19, organisations involved with prisoner affairs said today.

“The administrative detainee Sheikh Mustafa Muhammad Abu Ara, 63, from the town of Aqaba in the Tubas province in the northern West Bank, was martyred,” the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Society said in a joint statement.

The statement added that Abu Ara “died after being transferred from the Israeli Ramon Prison to Soroka Hospital due to a serious deterioration in his health.”

Abu Ara, a Hamas leader and former prisoner, had been arrested multiple times since 1990. The latest was from his home on 30 October 2023, it added, noting that before his arrest, Ara suffered from severe health issues and required intensive medical follow-up.

The statement highlighted that “Abu Ara, like all prisoners, faced unprecedented crimes and procedures since the start of the war of extermination on Gaza, including torture, starvation and medical neglect, which were primary causes of prisoner deaths in Israeli prisons and camps.”

The statement indicated that with his killing, the number of Palestinians killed while in Israeli detention since October has risen to 19.

Read: Israel releases 7 Palestinian detainees amid reports of severe abuse