Young Palestinian prisoner dies in Israeli custody
Abdul Rahman al-Sabateen, a 21-year-old Palestinian who was arrested by Israeli soldiers in late June, has been confirmed to have died in Israeli custody last night, according to the Palestinian Authority.
The young man from the town of Husan near Bethlehem in the occupied West Bank died at Shaare Zedek Medical Center in Jerusalem, the PA said in a statement, adding that the prisoner had shown no signs of physical or health problems when his family saw him during a court session on November 25.
The prisoner had suffered a “serious abdominal injury” a year before his arrest, but his condition had stabilised, the PA said.
Hamas, monitors condemn harsh prison conditions after prisoner’s death
Hamas has said the custodial death of the 21-year-old prisoner that we reported on earlier represents another crime “added to the horrific record of violations perpetrated by the Israeli prison administration against Palestinian prisoners”.
The Palestinian group said in a statement that Abdul Rahman al-Sabateen’s death is further evidence of a “policy of slow killing” through torture, abuse, starvation and deliberate medical neglect.
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, two monitors that follow up on prisoners, said in a joint statement that the “systematic” policy to kill or torture those in custody constitutes “an essential part of the ongoing war of extermination against our people”.
Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody have surged during Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza, with about 100 people confirmed dead and more forcibly disappeared.
Nearly 200 Israeli settlers storm Al-Aqsa Mosque in occupied Jerusalem
Roughly 190 Israeli settlers flanked by Israeli forces stormed the Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third-holiest site, in occupied East Jerusalem, Wafa news agency is reporting.
Settlers streamed into the mosque’s courtyards in groups, local sources told the agency, where they performed “provocative” tours and Talmudic rituals as Israeli soldiers and police watched on. Jewish worshippers are not allowed in the mosque compound, which is under the custodianship of Jordan.
The Al-Aqsa Mosque is located inside a 35-acre (14-hectare) compound referred to as al-Haram al-Sharif that also hosts the Dome of the Rock, a seventh-century structure believed to be where the Prophet Muhammad ascended to heaven.
Israel approves nearly 800 illegal housing units in three West Bank settlements
Israel’s Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich has said he gave final approval for 764 housing units to be built in three illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied West Bank. The far-right politician, who acts as de facto governor of the West Bank and has pledged to never allow the formation of a Palestinian state, said he will “continue the revolution”.
He said that since he came to power in late 2022, some 51,370 housing units have been approved in the West Bank to curtail future Palestinian statehood.
The Israeli Broadcasting Authority said a review of state documents and leaks has revealed what it described as “historic” transformations in the West Bank under Smotrich, with record numbers of Palestinians driven from their land and homes, which are subsequently transferred to Israeli state control and turned into settlements.
The actions of the Israeli government run counter to the international position that calls for a sovereign Palestinian state living side by side with an Israeli state. Trump’s ceasefire plan agreed in October also talks about the so-called two-state solution.
