A Palestinian man died inside an Israeli prison on 21 July, mere days after being detained for a traffic violation. According to his family, Abdo Youssef Khatib Tamimi, 43, was brutally beaten by occupation forces before his death. Israeli police claim he died of a heart attack.

The Prisoners Affairs Commission of the Palestinian Authority announced that they hold Israeli prison officials responsible for Tamimi’s death, while the Palestinian movement Hamas released a statement that said “Khatib died at the Israeli Moscobiya center after being severely beaten by the occupation police while in his cell,” and that “the detainee did not suffer from any pre-existing diseases, which refutes the Israeli occupation’s scandalous account that the young man died of a heart attack.”

Khatib, a resident of the Shaafat refugee camp in occupied East Jerusalem, leaves behind four children and his pregnant wife. As of June 30, Israel had detained some 4,850 Palestinians, including 41 women, 225 children, and held 540  in ‘administrative’ detention.