Ramallah, January 7, 2026 (WAFA) – Today, January 7, marks the anniversary of “Palestinian Martyrs’ Day,” which was established to commemorate the souls of the martyrs who gave their lives for Palestine, its freedom and independence .
This day was declared in 1969, and it is the day that coincides with the anniversary of the martyrdom of the first martyr in the armed Palestinian revolution, the martyr leader Ahmed Musa Salameh, who was martyred in 1965, after he carried out the “Ailaboun Tunnel” operation, to be a national day .
From the Nakba until today, our Palestinian people have offered more than 170,000 martyrs in order to gain their freedom and remain on their land, in defense of their holy sites, homes and prisoners, and in response to the attacks of their settlers .
Statistics indicate that more than 23,800 citizens were killed in 2025, most of them from the Gaza Strip .
The number of martyrs from among the Palestinian prisoners and detainees who died in Israeli occupation prisons since 1967 has reached (323) prisoners, and they are only those whose identities have been officially announced, and those whose martyrdom was documented by the competent institutions over the past decades, in light of the policy of concealment and obfuscation pursued by the occupation.
The Prisoners Club pointed out that more than one hundred prisoners and detainees have been martyred since the beginning of the genocide, and the identities of (86) of them have been announced so far, including (50) detainees from the Gaza Strip, in a clear indication of the escalation of systematic killing policies, especially against Gaza detainees who are subjected to inhumane detention conditions that lack the minimum protection standards stipulated in international humanitarian law.
On this anniversary, our people remember the martyrs who died in all stages of the Palestinian revolution and the long national struggle, from all factions and in all locations inside and outside the homeland, in prisons, on the borders, and the numbered martyrs whose bodies are still being held by the occupation .
Our people commemorate this day by visiting the martyrs’ shrines, placing wreaths of flowers on memorials, and organizing festivals and mass marches to honor those who sacrificed all their days so that we may live our days with pride and dignity .
—
E.R.
About the Author
