An outspoken critic of the Palestinian Authority who intended to run in parliamentary elections before they were cancelled earlier this year died during his arrest by PA forces on Thursday.

Nizar Banat, 44, was a harsh critic of the Palestinian Authority, which governs parts of the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and called on Western nations to cut off aid to it because of its growing authoritarianism and human rights violations.

In a brief statement, the Hebron governorate said Banat’s “health deteriorated” when Palestinian forces went to arrest him early on Thursday. It said he was taken to a hospital where he was later pronounced dead.

The specific circumstances of his death remain unclear.

According to his family, Banat was in bed when about two dozen PA officers broke into his house in Hebron and started beating him. He was dragged away screaming, local media quoted them as saying.

In early May, gunmen fired bullets, stun grenades and tear gas at his home near the West Bank city of Hebron, where his wife was inside with their children. 

He blamed the attack on President Mahmoud Abbas’s Fatah party, which dominates the security forces, saying only they would have access to tear gas and stun grenades.

“The Europeans need to know that they are indirectly funding this organisation,” Banat told The Associated Press in May in an interview at a home where he was hiding out.

“They fire their guns into the air at Fatah celebrations, they fire their guns in the air when Fatah leaders fight each other, and they fire their guns at people who oppose Fatah.”