News - Middle East: A West Bank-based senior official of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas has died after suffering drawn-out torture and medical negligence in Israeli captivity.

The Prisoners and Ex-Prisoners Affairs Commission, a Palestinian body, announced the death of 63-year-old Mustafa Abu Ora on Friday.

Ora, who used to reside in the town of Aqaba in the northern part of the occupied West Bank, had been arrested by the Israeli regime on many occasions since the 1990s.

According to the commission, he was abducted by the Palestinian Authority last year and then released “under pressure” to Israeli authorities, who jailed him again without charge or trial at the Ramon Prison in the northern part of the occupied Palestinian territories.

"Before his arrest, he was suffering from serious health problems and needed intensive medical follow-up. However, from the moment of his arrest, Sheikh Abu Ora, like all prisoners, has faced unprecedented crimes, most notably the torture, starvation, and medical crimes," the body noted.

It denounced the regime for subjecting Ora to “slow execution,” saying it held the regime’s prison authorities fully responsible for his death.

Hamas, itself, termed Ora’s death as “a new cowardly assassination added to the occupation’s criminal record against our prisoners.”

There are currently more than 9,700 Palestinians being held in Israeli jails.

The regime has stepped up its campaign of rampant and violent arrests against Palestinians since October 7, when it began waging a genocidal war on Gaza.

At least 18 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since the start of the war that has so far claimed the lives of more than 39,175 Palestinians, mostly women and children.

Source: Press TV