Prominent Palestinian Doctor, Iyad Rantisi, Dies during Interrogation in Israel

June 18, 2024

https://www.palestinechronicle.com/prominent-palestinian-doctor-iyad-rantisi-killed-during-interrogation-in-israel/

Israel has been repeatedly accused of “systematic torture” against Palestinian prisoners detained from Gaza during the ongoing genocidal war.

A senior doctor from Gaza died last November under interrogation by the Shin Bet, Israel’s internal security service, six days after his detention, the Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported on Tuesday.

Dr. Iyad Rantisi, 53, was the director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip.

“He was arrested November 11 and was declared dead six days later at Shikma Prison, the site of a Shin Bet interrogation facility,” the report said, adding that, “according to the Shin Bet, he was interrogated on suspicion of involvement in holding Israeli hostages in Gaza.”

The cause of death is unclear but Israel has been repeatedly accused of “systematic torture” against Palestinian prisoners detained from Gaza during the ongoing genocidal war.

Dr. Rantisi’s death reportedly prompted an investigation by the Israeli Ministry of Justice. According to Haaretz, “its findings are under review”.

After Rantisi’s death, “the Ashkelon Magistrate’s Court issued a six-month gag order prohibiting publication of all details of the case, including the existence of the gag order. The court order expired in May,” Haaretz reported.

Dr. Husam Abu Safia, the manager of the Kamal Adwan Hospital, told Haaretz “that neither he nor Rantisi’s family received any information about his fate.”

He also said that “Rantisi was detained at an army checkpoint while attempting to cross from north to south Gaza, following the Israeli military’s orders for the civilian population to evacuate at the beginning of the war.”

“In a statement, the Shin Bet confirmed the details of Rantisi’s arrest and said he died in the detention center’s infirmary November 17, 2023,” the report noted.

Systematic Torture

Dr. Rantisi is not the first Gazan physician to be killed in Israeli custody since October 7.

On April 19, Dr. Adnan al-Barsh, 53, the director of the orthopedic department at the Al-Shifa Hospital, was killed “as a result of torture” at the Israeli Ofer prison, according to the Palestinian Prisoners Society.

Al-Barsh had been detained, along with other doctors, by the Israeli army last December as he was treating patients.

According to Haaretz, “the Israeli military is investigating 36 deaths at its Sde Teiman detention facility, two deaths at the Anatot detention center and the deaths of two people who died en route to a detention center.”

These figures, however, “do not include Palestinians from Gaza who died in prisons operated by the Israel Prison Service,” Haaretz added.

On May 10, CNN reported that three Israeli whistleblowers – working at the Sde Teiman detention camp in Israel – had revealed systemic abuses by the military, including prisoners being restrained, blindfolded, and forced to wear diapers.

The whistleblowers described the grim conditions that Palestinian detainees face in Sde Teiman, located in the Naqab (Negev) desert, stating that they were not allowed to move, talk, or even peek under their blindfolds.

On June 6, a New York Times investigation described a policy of systematic torture in the army base of Sde Teiman, carried out by Israeli forces.

One of the journalists also visited the site, providing additional insight into Israel’s policy of systematic torture and abuse since October 7, challenging the Israeli government’s repeated claims that it operates according to accepted international practices and laws.

Sde Teiman, which is mainly used as a “makeshift interrogation center”, has become “a major focus of accusations that the Israeli military has mistreated detainees, including people later determined to have no ties to Hamas or other armed groups”, the New York Times reported.