Palestinians detainees
© ReutersPalestinians detainees being transported by Israeli forces in Gaza
Israeli intelligence and prison authorities have a long history of torturing Palestinian detainees

A senior doctor from Gaza was killed in November while under interrogation by the Shin Bet, Israel's internal security service, Haaretz reported on 18 June.

Dr Iyad Rantisi, 53, directed a women's hospital that is part of Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahia, in the northern Gaza Strip.

Rantisi was detained on 11 November at an Israeli army checkpoint while seeking to flee south to escape Israeli bombing in northern Gaza. Rantisi's family and hospital colleagues heard nothing more about him, leading them to worry he was killed in Israeli custody.

Rantisi was declared dead six days later at Shikma Prison, which is home to a Shin Bet interrogation facility.

It is unclear how Dr Rantisi died, but Israel has a long history of torturing Palestinian detainees.

His death has prompted a probe by the Justice Ministry department that investigates complaints against Shin Bet interrogators.

The Shin Bet claims Dr Rantisi was interrogated on suspicion of involvement in holding Israeli captives in Gaza.

Israel's Justice Ministry said the department had concluded its investigation into the circumstances of Rantisi's death and is reviewing its findings, Haaretz reported.

The liberal Israeli daily added that after Rantisi was killed, the Ashkelon Magistrate's Court issued a six-month gag order prohibiting the publication of all details of the case, including the existence of the gag order. Haaretz is now able to report on the case because the court order expired in May.

Another Palestinian physician from Gaza, Dr Adnan al-Bursh, 53, was also killed while in Israeli custody.

Bursh led the orthopedic surgery department at Gaza City's Al-Shifa Hospital and was detained by Israeli forces in Khan Yunis in December.

The father of six died four months later, on 19 April, at Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.

Israeli authorities have not explained the circumstances of Bursh's death.

Thirty-six Palestinians from Gaza detained at Israel's Sde Teiman detention facility have also died, presumably under torture.

On 6 June, the New York Times published a report which included accounts of torture at Sde Teiman. Israeli guards used electric chairs to shock detainees and anally raped them with hot, electrified metal rods.

Two Palestinians have also died at the Anatot detention center, while two more died en route to a detention center.

These figures do not include Palestinians from Gaza who died in prisons operated by the Israel Prison Service. Thousands of Palestinians have been detained and held captive in Israel's detention facilities and prisons since the start of the war on 7 October last year.