The Palestinian detainee Zaher Redad has passed away today in one of the hospitals inside the 1948 territories. Redad, who was 19 years old, from the town of Saida north of Tulkarem, was seriously injured on July 23 last year due to being targeted by an Israeli drone. He was arrested alongside three other youths, including one with moderate injuries.
Redad was arrested after the Israeli forces shot at him and used him as a human shield by placing him in front of one of the military vehicles. This was captured in a video during the military operation carried out by the Israeli army in Tulkarem.
During this period, the injured Redad was detained in the Israeli hospital (Meir) in critical and unstable health conditions. He remained on life support after undergoing several surgeries. Despite his severe health condition, the occupation authorities kept him under arrest until his passing today.
Redad’s death due to the Israeli attack, which began from the moment of his arrest and shooting, his use as a human shield, and the continuation of his detention despite his critical health condition, adds to the list of unprecedented crimes committed by the occupation since the start of the genocide against Palestinians in Gaza, as well as the ongoing comprehensive aggression across all Palestinian territories.
Redad is one among dozens of detainees who have been injured since the start of the genocide, whether they were arrested immediately after being injured or at later stages, and they continue to face medical crimes alongside a series of systematic crimes that have escalated since the beginning of the genocide.
With the death of the injured detainee Redad, the number of deceased prisoners and detainees since October 7, 2023, rises to 23 whose identities have been announced, in addition to dozens of Gaza detainees who have died in the occupation’s prisons and camps. The occupation continues to conceal their identities to this day, raising the number of deceased prisoners since 1967 whose identities are known to 260, marking the highest number in the history of the captive movement, based on available historical documentation operations.
With Redad’s passing, the number of fatalities in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, since October 7 last year, rises to 641, including 147 children.
