Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Israel Withholds Body of Ex-IDF Soldier Who Died in Administrative Detention

His family has petitioned the Supreme Court for his return after officials provided no explanation for his January death.

Overview

  • Haaretz reports authorities were warned he faced danger in custody as a discharged soldier held with security prisoners and that he was not receiving required medical treatment.
  • The Shin Bet arrested Hassan Kashahala in May 2025 on suspicion of Islamic State affiliation and other alleged offenses, which he denied.
  • Prosecutors declined to indict a month later, yet Defense Minister Israel Katz signed a six-month administrative detention order at the Shin Bet’s request on the day of his planned release, later extended.
  • Kashahala was held in Gilboa Prison’s security wing with convicted terrorists and told a court in August he feared being identified as a soldier and said he was afraid of dying in prison.
  • His family’s Supreme Court petition seeks release of the body for burial and argues there is no reliable evidence he committed a crime or was a terrorist; he previously served three years in the IDF’s Bedouin Tracking Battalion.