NEW: ‘Autopsy Report Confirms Killing of Palestinian Detainee Through Torture,’ Commission of Detainees’ Affairs & Palestinian Prisoners’ Society Report “Ramallah, Palestine.
The Palestinian detainee Mohammad Hussein al-‘Aref (45) was deliberately killed through torture by Israeli occupation forces during his interrogation at the Jalama detention center, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs & the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) have revealed. The details became clear after an autopsy was conducted and an initial medical report was provided to his family. ‘Aref, who was arrested on November 28, 2024, lost his life less than a week later, on December 4, 2024.
The medical report notes that there were “multiple signs of physical assault and excessive use of restraints […] likely causing traumatic intracranial bleeding.” The report also outlines the presence of blood clots in various parts of his body, signs of a heart attack, and a pulmonary obstruction. The blood clots were found in the left side of his head, both arms and legs, chest, and abdomen.
‘Aref, who hails from the Nur Shams refugee camp in Tulkarem, was transferred from the Jalama interrogation center directly to the Israeli occupation’s Rambam Hospital where he was declared dead shortly after arriving. The martyred detainee ‘Aref is one of 56 Palestinian prisoners and detainees who were killed and died in Israeli prisons after the outbreak of the Gaza genocide.
This number only reflects those whose identities have been confirmed. There are many other prisoners from Gaza who have been killed in Israel’s prisons and military detention camps, which it refuses to provide information on.
The assassination of detainee Mohammad al-‘Aref is part of a broader pattern of systematic crimes committed by the Israeli occupation against Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails and detention camps for decades. Particularly since the genocide, dozens of prisoners and detainees have been killed through torture, alongside deprivation of medical care, intentional starvation, and severe beatings.
This is the highest number of killings in prison on record. Torture methods have now exceeded previously recognized forms and have evolved into new techniques, beginning from the very first moment of arrest. These include violent arrest, intimidation, severe beatings, restraints that intentionally cause excruciating pain and injury, “shabah” (forcing them into strenuous positions), detention in degrading and humiliating conditions, verbal abuse against detainees and their families, long periods of interrogation, sleep deprivation, starvation, and sexual assault, including rape.”
Al Wafa Agency: https://english.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/153850
Autopsy report shows late Palestinian detainee was deliberately killed during investigation
RAMALLAH, January 22, 2025 (WAFA) – The Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) revealed new details about the death of detainee Muhammad Hussein Al-Aref, 45, from Nour Shams Camp in Tulkarm, through a preliminary medical report provided to the family after the autopsy that took place on December 17, 2024, which confirms that Al-Aref was deliberately liquidated during investigation, showing that it was clear that there was a decision to kill him from the moment of his detention on November 28, 2024.
The two organizations explained in a joint statement today part of the details included in the report that indicate the presence of multiple signs confirming that the late detainee was subjected to a physical assault, and another injury resulting from the (excessive) use of restraints, in addition to blood clots in several parts of his body, and a clear injury confirming that he suffered a heart attack, and a pulmonary embolism, as well as a relatively large blood clot above the knee, and multiple signs of physical assault, which likely caused bleeding inside the skull.
They confirmed that the assassination and liquidation of Al-Aref is part of the record of systematic and ongoing crimes committed Israel against detainees in the Israeli occupation prisons and detention centers for decades, which primarily aim to deprive the detainees of their humanity, in addition to killing them, and which reached its peak since the beginning of the war of genocide against Palestinians.
The organizations also indicated that the level of torture since the beginning of the war of genocide has been the most severe and harshest in the testimonies and accounts of the detainees, as Al-Aref’s case is not the first case, noting that there are dozens of detainees who have died as a result of torture operations, in addition to medical crimes, starvation crimes, and assaults at various levels.