The Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Club confirmed on Monday that the Israeli occupation prisons administration assassinated prisoner Abdulrahman Bassem al-Bahsh, 23, from Nablus in "Megiddo" Prison.

Seven Palestinian prisoners have been martyred in Israeli occupation prisons since October 7, including three in "Megiddo". The prisoners are Omar Draghmeh, Arafat Hamdan, Majed Zaqoul, Abdul Rahman Mar'i, Thaer Abu Asab, and al-Bahsh, in addition to a fourth martyr whose identity is still unknown.

In a joint statement, the Commission and the Prisoners Club mentioned that al-Bahsh had been detained by Israeli occupation forces since May 31, 2022, and was sentenced to 35 months in prison.

The statement stressed that al-Bahsh's assassination confirms the relentless continuation of the Israeli occupation, without any hindrance or consideration, in carrying out further targeted assassination operations against prisoners and detainees in its prisons, coupled with systematic torture and abuse, with the explicit intent of murdering Palestinian prisoners.

According to the Commission and the Prisoners Club, the accounts conveyed by recently released prisoners, testimonies from lawyers, and information from various sources regarding prisoners who were martyred after October 7 all validate that torture and severe physical assault against prisoners at the hands of the Israeli occupation army's repression and special units directly led to the prisoners' martyrdom.

Expressing deep concern over the escalating crimes committed by the occupation against prisoners, the Commission and the Prisoners Club held full responsibility not only to the criminal Israeli occupation but also to all international powers supporting it in perpetuating genocide against the people in Gaza. This extends to the comprehensive aggression against the Palestinian people, especially in occupation prisons, the statement noted.

The joint statement also highlighted that October 7 marks not the initiation of the Israeli occupation's criminal policies but rather an extension of "Israel's" criminality and brutality, recalling the occupation's prior attempts to pass and enforce the death penalty law against prisoners.

Despite not anticipating justice from the Israeli courts, the Commission and the Prisoners Club affirm their commitment to monitor investigations into the martyred prisoners after October 7, as a measure to halt the ongoing criminality at this level, the statement affirmed.

Calling upon international human rights institutions, particularly the United Nations and the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoners Club urged these organizations to assume their essential role in addressing these relentless crimes, stressing the need to exert all possible means to end the unprecedented atrocities against prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons.

Commenting on al-Bahsh's assassination at the hands of "the Nazi occupation authorities," Zaher Jabareen, head of the office for martyrs, wounded, and prisoners in the Hamas movement, said that the new Israeli crime occurs concurrently with accounts of field executions, brutal torture, and inhumane conditions endured by Palestinian prisoners, particularly those in Gaza.

In a statement, Jabareen slammed the silence of international human rights and prisoners of war organizations over Israeli crimes.

The Hamas official underlined that these assassinations and crimes will backfire on the Israeli occupation, stressing that Resistance fighters will retaliate against the occupation's crimes against the Palestinian people. Elsewhere, he vowed that martyr Abdulrahman al-Bahsh's blood will remain a curse haunting his murderers.

With al-Bahsh's martyrdom, the number of Palestinian prisoners martyred in occupation prisons since 1967 has risen to 244.