Head of the prisoners and ex-prisoner affairs committee, Maj. Gen. Qadri Abu Bakr, announced on Tuesday the death of Nassar Taqatqa while in solitary confinement in the Israeli prison of Nitzan in Al-Ramle.

Abu Bakr said that the Israeli occupation forces had arrested Taqatqa a month ago, after raiding the house his family home in Beit Fajjar town, south of Bethlehem, and transferred him to the Al-Jalameh detention center for investigation, before they transferred to solitary confinement in “Nitzan prison, and he was martyred there.

The prisoner’s family confirmed that their son did not suffer any health issues and that this is his first arrest.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Club held the Israeli occupation authorities fully responsible for his death and for the fate of all the prisoners in their prisons, especially that the prisoner Taqaqta was martyred during the period of investigation, which requires stopping at this period in which interrogators carry out the most severe types of psychological and physical torture.

The club pointed out that this martyrdom brings the number of prisoner martyrs  to 220.

Israeli Prison Service closed all the prisons following Taqatqa’s death, and prevented lawyers from visiting the prisoners.

The Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates (MOFA) has stated that the Israeli government, headed by Benjamin Netanyahu, and its security forces, including the prison administration, hold full and direct responsibility for the martyrdom of their captive Nassar Tatarqata, 31, whilst he was being interrogated by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF).

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the ministry called for the formation of an international commission of inquiry under the auspices of the International Red Cross to examine the circumstances and details of Tatarqata’s death as well as providing legal and political protection to all prisoners.

The indifference shown by the international community, its organizations and its competent authorities towards the human rights violations and crimes of the occupation authorities encourages the IOF to continue to commit such atrocities, MOFA stated.

The ministry continued to say that the martyrdom of Tatarqata under Israel’s care calls for urgent action by the international criminal court and an official investigation into the crimes of the occupation, including the prosecution and accountability of Israeli war criminals.