Israel refusing to hand over autopsy results to family of Gazan paramedic killed in Dec. 2023

Israel has refused to provide information about the circumstances of the death in Israeli custody of a Palestinian paramedic from Khan Younis who was detained by IDF troops for unexplained reasons on December 2, 2023, Haaretz reports.

The paramedic, referred to in the report by the pseudonym Khaled, was one of a five-member medical team staff detained on December 2, 2023, while evacuating patients from north to south Gaza, according to Haaretz. The state says Khaled died that same day, according to Haaretz, which says he died in the Sde Teiman detention facility in southern Israel.

Khaled’s wife received official notice of his death only in September 2024 after appealing to the Israeli court with the assistance of the Gisha organization, Haaretz reports, while contemporary Hamas statements corroborate the account.

“I’ve appealed to every possible body, including the Red Cross — everything to get information, but there’s no answer,” Haaretz quotes Khaled’s wife as saying. “I just want to know what happened to my husband. If he’s dead, why did he die, and how? He went out to save lives and help the wounded. He has no record of security issues.”

The woman — who reportedly lives with her six children in a tent in a displaced peoples’ camp after her home was destroyed — adds that she tries to solicit information from every returning Gaza prisoner.

“Some say they saw him and some say they didn’t,” she says. “You can’t just disappear a person like that. We live in uncertainty, which only compounds the pain and fear.”

Following the family’s request, Khaled was autopsied at the Abu Kabir Forensic Institute in May, some 18 months after he died, Haaretz says. A family representative was present but was required to sign a nondisclosure agreement, preventing him from informing Khaled’s family of the autopsy results, the newspaper says.

The family’s attorney has accused the state of dragging its feet, but the Beersheba Magistrate’s Court has expressed satisfaction that the military police is investigating the case sincerely, Haaretz reports.

The IDF says in a response to the newspaper that the criminal investigation into Khaled’s death is ongoing, and that “by nature of things, its findings cannot be specified, including the results of the autopsy.”