Fatah vows revenge for Palestinian inmate death in zionist Israeli jail

Palestinian Fatah movement’s armed wing has vowed to avenge the death of a Palestinian inmate in an Israeli prison.

“This horrific crime will not go unpunished and we promise the Zionist occupation that we will respond to this crime,” said Fatah’s armed wing, al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, in a statement on Monday.

The statement was distributed among the crowd at the funeral ceremony of Arafat Jaradat, who died in Israel’s Megido prison in the occupied West Bank on February 23.

Israeli prison officials claimed that Jaradat had died of a cardiac attack.

However, the Palestinian Authority’s Minister for Prisoners’ Affairs Issa Qaraqea said the prisoner’s autopsy showed fractures in his body and skull due to torture, while his heart was in good condition.

Qaraqea also called for an international investigation into the death of the Palestinian inmate.

“Al-Aqsa brigades, the armed wing of the Fatah national liberation movement, mourns with all pride its hero, the martyr of freedom, the prisoner Arafat Jaradat,” the statement added.

Palestinians have been holding regular protests demanding the release of prisoners, but tensions have escalated after Jaradat’s death.

Following Jaradat’s death, about 3,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails launched a one-day hunger strike on Sunday to voice their outrage at the incident.

More than 4,500 Palestinian prisoners are held in Israeli prisons, many of them without charge or trial.

Rights organizations and Palestinian prisoner support groups say four of these prisoners — Ayman Sharawneh, Samer al-Issawi, Jaafar Ezzedine, and Tareq Qaa’dan — have been on hunger strike for months.

The Ramallah-based Prisoners’ Club also announced on February 23 that another seven prisoners have also joined them in their strike.