‘Operation al-Aqsa Flood’ Day 194: Palestinians mark ‘Prisoners’ Day’ with more than 9,500 in Israeli jails

Casualties 

• 33,899 + killed* and at least 76,664 wounded in the Gaza Strip.*
• 468+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.**
• Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,139.
• 604 Israeli soldiers have been killed since October 7, and at least 6,800 injured.***

*Gaza’s Ministry of Health confirmed this figure on its Telegram channel on April 17. Some rights groups estimate the death toll to be much higher when accounting for those presumed dead.

** The death toll in the West Bank and Jerusalem is not updated regularly. According to the PA’s Ministry of Health on April 5, this is the latest figure.

*** This figure is released by the Israeli military, showing the soldiers whose names “were allowed to be published.” The number of Israeli soldiers wounded is according to Israeli media reports.

Key Developments 

• Israel killed 56 Palestinians and wounded 89 in the past 24 hours across Gaza, raising the death toll since October 7 to 33,899 and the number of wounded to 76,664, according to the Gaza health ministry.
  
• Iran says it is “ready” for a major confrontation with Israel.
  
• Israel has detained at least 5,000 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip since October 7, according to the Gaza government media office.
  
• The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club says 16 identified Palestinians have died in Israeli detention since October 7.
  
• Israeli ‘Walla’ news website says that 60 Israeli soldiers have been wounded per day during the current war.
  
• Israeli forces withdraw from Beit Hanoun in the northern Gaza Strip.
  
• Human Rights Watch says Israeli settlers’ violence has expelled seven Palestinian communities since October 7.
  
• Lebanon: Hezbollah attacks several Israeli positions in Upper Galilee, Israel strikes southern Lebanon towns.

Gaza: Israel kills 56 Palestinians in the past 24 hours

The Gaza-based Palestinian health ministry announced that 56 Palestinians have been killed in Israeli strikes in the past 24 hours, while 89 others were wounded.

Meanwhile, in the northern Gaza Strip, the Israeli army withdrew from Beit Hanoun after four days of siege. Local media sources reported that Israeli troops arrested dozens of Palestinian men and forced women to leave the town, after searching them.

In Gaza City, nine Palestinians were reported killed in an Israeli strike on the al-Tuffah neighborhood. Seven of them were policemen, according to reports.

In the central Gaza Strip, Israeli forces continued to strike the Nusseirat refugee camp and its surroundings, destroying five residential towers north of the camp. Also in Nusseirat, two Palestinians were reported killed in an Israeli strike on the Zumlot family’s house. In the Maghazi refugee camp, ten Palestinians were reported killed in an Israeli strike on a family’s house, mostly children according to reports.

In the southern Gaza Strip, seven Palestinians were reported killed in an Israeli strike on a house. Reports indicated that the victims were a man and his wife, the wife’s mother, and four children. The family had been displaced from the Jabalia refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip at the beginning of the current war.

Iran says it is ready for a major confrontation with Israel

Iranian president Ibrahim Raisi said on Tuesday that his country will launch “a powerful and determinant” strike against Israel if it takes any action against Iran. Raisi added that countries in the region “can count” on Iran’s military capabilities.

The Iranian air force chief also told the media on Tuesday that Iran is “ready for a confrontation on all levels”, warning that Israel will face “a wide attack” if it attacks Iran.

Meanwhile, the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot quoted an unnamed Israeli official on Tuesday, saying that Israel had “decided the form of response” to Iran’s attack last weekend and that the Israeli government was “waiting for good timing.”

The official reportedly added that the more time passes before conducting Israel’s attack on Iran, the question of whether Israel should take such action is becoming a focus of internal discussion.

Palestinian prisoners’ rights groups say 16 Palestinians have died in Israeli prison since October 7

The three Palestinian prisoners’ rights groups; the official Prisoners and Detainees Affairs Commission, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, and Addameer Prisoners’ Support and Human Rights Association, said in a joint statement on Wednesday that 16 Palestinians have died in Israel’s prisons since October 7.

The statement was released early on Wednesday to mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, which is commemorated every April 17. The statement indicated that at least 9,500 Palestinians are held in Israeli jails, including 80 women, 200 children, 56 journalists, and more than 3,660 detainees being held without charges, under the Israeli ‘Administrative Detention’ martial law system.

The statement added that the number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli jails since 1967 has reached 252, including 16 since October 7 who they have been able to identify. According to the groups, Israel continues to hide the identities of most of the Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip, who have died in Israeli detention.

In early March, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported that 27 Palestinians detained from the Gaza Strip since October 7 had died in Israeli detention,

In November, Israel released 240 Palestinian women and children, as part of a captive exchange, where Hamas released 105 Israeli civilian captives. Israel re-arrested 15 of the released Palestinians in the following months.

Human rights reports, based on testimonies gathered from released Palestinians, have warned that detention conditions of Palestinians have severely deteriorated, including beatings, overcrowded cells, reduction of sunlight and shower time, solitary confinement, and even sexual abuse, which was reported by the UN in February. Israeli authorities have also banned family visits for all Palestinian inmates during the first months of the war, and continue to ban visits for many.

Following the UN report on sexual abuse against Palestinian detainees, Palestinian prisoners’ rights groups announced that they had suspended all cooperation with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), accusing it of “inaction” towards Israeli abuses of Palestinian detainees.

On Wednesday, Palestinian protesters in Ramallah staged a protest in front of the ICRC offices, hanging signs on the offices’ gates accusing the Red Cross of “complicity” with Israel’s abuses.

Since October 7, Israel has arrested more than 8,100 Palestinians, as its arrest campaign in the West Bank and Jerusalem continues, mainly through night raids into Palestinian towns and cities.

Since 1967, Israel has arrested over 1 million Palestinians according to human rights groups. One out of every three Palestinians has experienced Israeli detention in more than five decades of occupation.