Tulkarm /PNN / 

Zahir Tahseen Raddad, a 19-year-old Palestinian from the town of Saida, north of Tulkarm, died this morning while being held at an Israeli hospital within the 1948-occupied territories.

Raddad had sustained serious injuries on July 23, following a siege by Israeli forces on a house where he was present in the Azbat al-Jarad neighborhood east of Tulkarm. The house was targeted by an Israeli drone, and Raddad was arrested along with three other young men, one of whom had moderate injuries.

A joint statement from the Palestinian Prisoners Society and the Palestinian Prisoners Affairs Commission confirmed Raddad's death at the Israeli Meir Hospital.

According to the statement, Raddad was shot by Israeli forces and used as a human shield by being placed on the front of an Israeli military vehicle, as documented in video footage of the military operation in Tulkarm.

The statement further detailed that Raddad had been held at Meir Hospital under critical and unstable health conditions, reliant on artificial respiration after undergoing several surgeries. Despite his grave condition, the Israeli authorities continued his detention until his death today.

The two organizations condemned the Israeli occupation's actions as a compounded crime, starting from the moment of Raddad's arrest and shooting, his use as a human shield, and the continued detention despite his severe health condition.

They described this incident as part of the unprecedented scale of crimes committed by the Israeli occupation since the onset of its genocidal campaign against the people of Gaza and its ongoing aggression against Palestinians across all occupied territories.