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According to information from Israel, a minimum of 98 Palestinians have perished while in custody beginning in October 2023. A rights monitoring body based in Israel has indicated that the true figure is probably substantially larger, because of numerous of unaccounted for detainees in Gaza.

Study Results

An updated study recorded deaths caused by brutality, medical neglect, and starvation. Analysts used official data requests, forensic reports, and testimonies with lawyers, advocates, next of kin, and observers.

Official sources released detailed data only for the opening period of the conflict. During this time, official figures indicate an historically high casualty rate among Palestinian detainees, equating to a single fatality each 96 hours.

Recent Figures

The military finalized data on custodial deaths for May 2024, and detention administration during September 2024. Analysts discovered another 35 deaths in custody subsequent to these timeframes and verified them with government bodies.

Despite the total number of fatalities documented being substantially larger than previous assessments, it probably omits the full scale of Palestinian loss, per the head of the detainee affairs unit.

“Even though we are presenting proof for a greater figure of fatalities than earlier indicated, this is not a full picture,” he said. “We are confident that there are still detainees who died in confinement that we have not identified.”

Civilian Deaths

Confidential government records indicates that the vast majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who lost their lives in prison were civilians, according to a related investigation.

By May of 2024, a military intelligence database monitoring all combatants in Gaza, a list of over 47,000 listed people, recorded just 21 fatalities in custody. At that time, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had died in prison.

Prison Situation

Assault, torture, and further cruelty of detainees from Palestine has been normalised across Israel’s detention facilities throughout the duration of hostilities. High-ranking authorities have publicly referenced minimal sustenance and an subterranean prison holding Palestinians who never see daylight.

Current and former detainees and insiders from the defense forces have collectively claimed systemic violations of international law.

Systemic Abuse

The institutionalised cruelty occurred alongside a troubling surge in fatalities documented across no fewer than 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. Over ten years before the conflict, there were on average several deaths a year.

“This isn’t just an individual case occasionally. It is systemic and it is expected to endure,” a representative said, in part due to the fact there is a culture of virtual exemption from consequences for fatalities and maltreatment of Palestinians.

Only a single instance of assaulting prisoners has come to trial, with the soldier handed a punishment to 210 days. An attempt to prosecute additional individuals over a brutal attack featuring abuse led to public rallies and the detention of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the alleged perpetrators now requesting that indictments against them are dropped.

No Legal Action

“Regardless of this mass number of fatalities, over two years not a single person has faced arrest,” the spokesperson noted. “There have been no charges over any fatality.

“While these measures remain in effect, each Palestinian individual in confinement is at peril, also the healthy ones, including the juveniles who have no underlying conditions.”

Prominent Examples

Some deaths in confinement have been high profile, such as a 50-year-old medical chief who lost his life in detention after 120 days in detention.

A detainee held with the deceased stated that he was brought to the courtyard by prison staff shortly before his death, clearly wounded and unclothed from the lower body. His corpse remains unreleased to Gaza.

Other prisoners who died in Israeli custody are unidentified. Correctional authorities and armed services provided investigators with the total of casualties in detention, and basic further data for example the location where they died, but not the detainees’ identities.

Identification Challenges

In 21 cases, mainly people from Gaza, analysts were not able to correlate the few details provided by government bodies to a casualty documented by rights organisations, either through statements from freed prisoners or accounts in the media.

The inmates’ next of kin might not have learned about their family members’ fatalities also, as Israel has created obstacles to locate Palestinians it is holding. During 210 days at the start of the hostilities, the Israeli military declined to supply fundamental details about the status of many of individuals held in Gaza, practically enacting a practice of forced disappearance, according to the advocacy organization.

Limited Transparency

From May 2024, government bodies have provided an electronic contact for requests about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has led to just a partial and limited enhancement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on