GAZA, February 24 (RIA Novosti) – The death of a Palestinian inmate in Israeli custody has sparked violent protests in West Bank in which more than 20 people have been injured, local media reported on Sunday.
The epicenter of violence on Sunday was the West Bank city of Hebron, the home town of Arafat Jaradat, 30, who died at the Meggido detention centre in northern Israel on Saturday.
“We have evacuated some 20 people, who were injured by rubber bullets and tear gas in Hebron, the home town of martyr Arafat Jaradat, in the Al-Arroub refugee camp, in the village of Beit Ummar and other places,” a spokesman for the Palestine Red Crescent Society (PRCS) told RIA Novosti.
Israeli authorities said Jaradat died of heart attack, denying that the detainee was beaten during the interrogation. However, Jaradat’s father said there were signs of blood on his son’s head.
Jaradat’s death could exacerbate tensions in Israel and the Palestinian territories, where protests are mounting in the past weeks.
A Hamas spokesman, Fawzi Barhoum, has condemned the death of the Palestinian saying, "This is a crime against our prisoners committed by the Israeli government.”
"There must be a third Intifada [uprising] and a revolution … to pressure Israel to protect our prisoners," Barhoum told Al Jazeera on Sunday.
Several thousand Palestinian prisoners observed a one-day fast Sunday in protest of the death of the fellow inmate. One of the prisoners, Samer Issawi, has refused food for more than 200 days, the Voice of Palestine has reported.
