Major protests have broken out in the occupied West Bank and reports say every single one of Israel’s 4,500 Palestinian detainees took part in a hunger strike today to protest the death of detainee Arafat Jaradat in custody on Saturday.
Jaradat died at Megiddo Prison, with Israeli officials claiming he had a “heart attack” shortly after confessing to throwing stones at a protest last week. PA pathologist Saber Aloul, present at the autopsy, said the body had multiple signs of torture.
Israeli officials denied the claims of torture, and insisted the assorted bruises and broken bones, which included deep wounds along his spine, were caused by a medical team trying to revive him.
Israel has promised an “investigation” into the killing, but has a less than stellar history of doing so. The incident couldn’t have come at a worse time, as protests were already growing in the West Bank over other detentions and the Israeli military had just issued a statement admonishing its people to avoid any killings, fearing it could make matters worse.
