Injured Palestinian detainee used as human shield dies in Israeli hospital

An injured Palestinian detainee was pronounced dead at an Israeli hospital on Sunday, according to prisoners’ affairs groups, Anadolu news agency reported.

Zahir Tahseen Raddad, 19, was detained last month after he was shot and injured by Israeli army fire in the town of Saida, north of Tulkarm in the northern West Bank.

A joint statement by the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said Raddad breathed his last at Meir Hospital in central Israel early Sunday.

According to the statement, Raddad was used as a human shield by Israeli army soldiers, who placed him on the front of a military vehicle during a raid in the town.

His death brought to 23 the number of Palestinian detainees, who have died inside Israeli prisons since 7 October 2023, according to Palestinian figures.

Israel has continued its brutal offensive on the Gaza Strip following a Hamas attack on 7 October, 2023, despite a UN Security Council resolution calling for an immediate ceasefire.

At least 641 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,400 others injured in the occupied West Bank, according to the Health Ministry.

In a landmark advisory opinion on 19 July, the International Court of Justice declared Israel’s decades-long occupation of Palestinian land unlawful and demanded the evacuation of all existing settlements in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

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