The Palestinian Islamic Jihad resistance movement has lamented the death of a senior Hamas official in an Israeli prison, saying the tragic event exposes the extent of the brutality of the occupying regime against Palestinian inmates.
“The Israel Prison Service (IPS ) and [Israel’s so-called internal security service] Shin Bet are waging an open war against Palestinian prisoners being kept behind bars inside the occupying regime’s detention centers,” the movement said in a statement on Monday evening, according to the al-Mayadeen news network.
The Islamic Jihad made clear that it regards what happened to the 58-year-old and his unexpected death as “premeditated murder.”
It also noted that the crime was perpetrated under the support of certain members of the international community, which have encouraged the Tel Aviv regime and its various institutions to commit more atrocities.
Earlier in the day, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) said Israel killed Daraghmeh, who was arrested on October 9 and placed under administrative detention.
The PPS said in a statement that the Israeli narrative about the circumstances of the Hamas member’s death “remains subject to doubt,” particularly since he had appeared at a court hearing hours earlier and seemed to be in good health.
An Israeli statement claimed his death was due to a heart attack.
Hamas mourned the death of Daraghmeh, describing it as an “assassination” by the Israeli regime.
The Gaza-based resistance movement further said that the deceased senior member was tortured to death while being held in the Israeli Megiddo prison.
According to Palestinian sources, Daraghmeh was arrested alongside his son at the start of Operation Al-Aqsa Storm as part of a wide detention campaign led by Israeli forces across the West Bank.
Israeli forces have arrested more than 1,215 Palestinians across the West Bank since fighting broke out between Palestinian resistance groups and Israel on October 7.
Earlier this month, the head of the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club Qadura Fares warned against the rising brutal Israeli practices against Palestinian prisoners and underscored the need for exposition of the atrocities being committed against them.
Fares said in a statement that “many prisoners had their limbs, legs, and arms broken by Israeli forces,” adding that other inmates “could not recognize them” following the vicious physical assaults.
He added that the Negev prison “has become like Abu Ghraib prison, as it is a center of brutality and brutal behavior against our heroic prisoners,” emphasizing that “Israel is taking revenge on Palestinian prisoners for its defeat [in Gaza].”
Fares finally called upon Western powers to act in support of the principles they preach to others, as failure to do so would reveal their return to the era of colonialism.
