Two Palestinian human rights institutions announced Sunday that a Palestinian detainee who was arrested about six months ago has died in an Israeli prison, just four days after the death of another Palestinian prisoner.

The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs (CDA), operating under the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), and the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) confirmed the death of Sakhr Ahmad Khalil Zaoul, 26, an administrative detainee from the town of Husan in Bethlehem. 

He had been held at Ofer Prison since June 11, 2025.

According to the institutions, Zaoul’s family reported that he had no chronic illnesses. He has a brother, Khalil Zaoul, who remains in Israeli detention.

Israeli prison (Photo online).

Israel detains Palestinians under an administrative detention system, based on an old British mandate law that allows imprisonment without trial for periods of three to six months, renewable based on a secret security file.

CDA and the PPS noted that Zaoul’s death came just four days after the death of Abdul Rahman Al-Sabatine, also from Husan. They held Israeli prison authorities fully responsible for Zaoul’s death.

Official Palestinian statistics indicate that over 9,300 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons, alongside hundreds detained in military camps, including more than 50 women and approximately 350 children. Administrative detainees alone numbered 3,368 as of November 2025.