Ramallah: An elderly Palestinian committed suicide by swallowing two bottles of rat poison, reportedly unable to bear alleged harsh treatment meted out to him by his own children.
Faisal Ebrahim Yousuf, 80, from the village of Jinsafut, north of the West Bank, was pronounced dead in an ambulance on his way to a hospital.
Security sources told Gulf News that Yousuf's body was still at the morgue pending an autopsy before it was handed over to his family for burial.
The sources said that the victim's wife and children, who allegedly used to beat their father, had been detained for police interrogation.
Neighbours' accounts
Yousuf's relatives and neighbours told Gulf News they had often intervened during family disputes and shielded the man from his children, who they said used to beat him up.
The victim had abandoned his wife and left her with her children in one of his houses while living alone in another house.
The security sources said that witnesses had told police that the victim had threatened his children that he would end his life if they did not stop roughing him up.
The sources said that one of the children tried to burn his father in the house. Relatives said Yousuf wanted to disgrace his children and highlight his mistreatment at their hands.
By Nasouh Nazzal, Correspondent
