Palestinian ambulance officer from Gaza dies in Israeli custody

A Palestinian ambulance officer from the Gaza Strip has died while held in an Israeli prison, more than a year after his arrest, two Palestinian prisoner advocacy groups said on Thursday.

The Palestinian Civil Affairs Authority, the official liaison with Israel, said Hatem Ismail Rayan, 59, died in Israel’s Negev Prison in southern Israel, according to a joint statement by the Palestinian Prisoner Society and the Palestinian Commission of Detainees Affairs.

Rayan was detained on Dec. 27, 2024, from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Gaza. His son, Moaz, who was wounded at the time of arrest, remains in Israeli custody, the statement added.

The two organizations said that as of Jan. 12, at least 87 Palestinian detainees whose identities are known have died in Israeli prisons since the start of the Israeli genocide in Gaza, citing torture, starvation, sexual abuse, and systematic denial of basic rights, alongside degrading and inhumane detention conditions.