The Israeli “Haaretz” reported that a senior doctor from the Gaza Strip died while being interrogated by the General Security Agency (Shin Bet) in November, 6 days after his arrest on suspicion of involvement in the detention of Israelis in Gaza.
The newspaper explained that Dr. Iyad Al-Rantisi (53 years old) was running a women’s hospital affiliated with Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia in the northern Gaza Strip when the Shin Bet arrested him on November 11, and his death was announced 6 days later in Shikma Prison, which the Shin Bet uses as an interrogation site.
She added that the Ministry of Justice announced that it had completed the investigation into the circumstances of Rantisi’s death, and was in the process of reviewing its findings.
Haaretz reported that the Magistrate Court in the city of Ashkelon issued – following the death of Iyad Al-Rantisi – an order prohibiting the publication of any details about the case for a period of 6 months, which expired last May.
No information for his family
The director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, Dr. Hossam Abu Safiya, told the Haaretz newspaper that neither he nor Al-Rantisi’s family had received any information about his fate.
According to him, Iyad Al-Rantisi was arrested at a checkpoint when he intended to cross from northern to southern Gaza after the Israeli army issued orders to the civilian population to evacuate the area at the beginning of the war.
Haaretz quoted Dr. Abu Safiya as saying that the Israeli army arrested Al-Rantisi and nothing has been heard from him since then, and that their lack of knowledge of his whereabouts made them fear that he had died in detention and that his body was being held in Israel.
The second doctor
According to the Israeli newspaper, Al-Rantisi is the second doctor from Gaza known to have died during his arrest pending investigation, after Dr. Adnan Al-Barsh (53 years old), who headed the orthopedic department at Al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.
Al-Barash, the father of six children, died on April 19 in Ofer Prison in the West Bank. He was arrested in Khan Yunis in December. But Haaretz says that the Israeli authorities did not provide an explanation about the causes of his death, pointing out that his widow, Yasmine, asked the Jerusalem Magistrate Court to appoint an investigator to find out the circumstances of his death.
Dozens of deaths
Haaretz revealed that the Israeli army is investigating 36 deaths in the “Sde Teman” detention center, two deaths in the Anatot detention center, and two deaths of two people who died on the way to the detention center. These numbers do not include Palestinians from Gaza who died in detention centers run by the Israeli Prison Service.
In a statement, the Shin Bet confirmed the details of Dr. Rantisi’s arrest and said that he died in the detention center’s infirmary on November 17, 2023. He added that the relevant authorities are reviewing the circumstances of his death.