West Bank raids: Palestinian man dies in detention
Earlier we reported Israeli soldiers had turned over the body of a Palestinian man hours after his arrest in the occupied West Bank.
The Palestine Red Crescent Society said it received the body of Ayman Rajeh Abed, 58, from the village of Kafr Dan, just outside Jenin, after he was arrested at dawn.
The director of the Jenin Government Hospital said the body bore signs of beatings and torture. The Israeli military said Abed was detained during “counterterrorism operations” and experienced a “cardiac event” on arrival at a detention facility.
Hundreds of Israeli soldiers backed by drones and helicopters have taken part in the major West Bank incursion, which has caused extensive damage to houses and infrastructure in Jenin and the densely packed refugee camp adjacent to the city.
Palestinians raise the white flag as they flee their homes after Israeli forces took them over in Jenin
‘Treat Palestinians as human beings,’ US Muslim group tells Biden
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has urged Biden to condemn the killing of a 58-year-old Palestinian man from the occupied West Bank whose body was returned with clear signs of torture after two hours in Israeli custody.
“Just as President Biden clearly and passionately condemned the killing of Israeli hostages, he should clearly and passionately condemn the torture-murder of this 58-year-old Palestinian man from the West Bank and the killing of tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, as well as numerous Israeli hostages, in Gaza,” CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said in a statement.
“Every innocent human life matters whether Palestinian, Israeli or American, but our government’s policies and rhetoric say otherwise. President Biden must finally start to treat Palestinians as human beings who deserve the same rights as all other people.”
Awad also welcomed Biden’s remarks that Netanyahu isn’t doing enough for the release of Israeli captives in Gaza but said the US president must match his words with action.
‘Apartheid Israel targeting Gaza and the West Bank simultaneously’: UN expert
Francesca Albanese, the United Nations special rapporteur on the rights situation in the Palestinian territories, says Israel’s recent deadly raids in the occupied West Bank mark “a dangerous escalation”.
“Israel’s genocidal violence risks leaking out of Gaza and into the occupied Palestinian territory as a whole,” she said in a statement.
“The writing is on the wall and we cannot continue to ignore it. There is mounting evidence that no Palestinian is safe under Israel’s unfettered control. Apartheid Israel is targeting Gaza and the West Bank simultaneously as part of an overall process of elimination, replacement, and territorial expansion,” Albanese added.
“The long-standing impunity granted to Israel is enabling the de-Palestinisation of the occupied territory, leaving Palestinians at the mercy of the forces pursuing their elimination as a national group.”
Albanese called on the international community to “do everything it can to immediately end the risk of genocide against the Palestinian people under Israel’s occupation, ensure accountability, and ultimately end Israel’s colonisation of Palestinian territory”.
