Hamas leader Mustafa Muhammad Abu Ara was killed in an Israeli prison, raising the number of detainees who have been killed since Oct 7 to 19, Palestinian organizations involved with prisoner affairs said, Anadolu Agency reports.

“The administrative detainee Sheikh Mustafa Muhammad Abu Ara, 63, from the town of Aqaba in the Tubas province in the northern West Bank, was martyred,” the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

The statement added that Ara “died after being transferred from the Israeli Ramon Prison to Soroka Hospital due to a serious deterioration in his health.”

Ara, a Hamas leader and former prisoner, had been arrested multiple times since 1990. The latest was from his home on Oct 30, 2023, it added, noting that before his arrest, Ara suffered from severe health issues and required intensive medical follow-up.