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Based on information from Israel, a minimum of 98 detainees from Palestine have perished while in custody beginning in October 2023. A human rights group based in Israel has stated that the true figure is almost certainly substantially larger, as a result of hundreds of missing individuals in Gaza.

Study Results

A new investigation documented deaths attributed to physical violence, lack of healthcare, and starvation. Researchers used freedom of information requests, medical examiner documents, and interviews with legal representatives, human rights defenders, relatives, and eyewitnesses.

Official sources released detailed statistics only for the first eight months of the conflict. During this time, government statistics show an unprecedented casualty rate among detained Palestinians, amounting to one death once every four-day period.

Updated Statistics

The military finalized records on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities during September 2024. Researchers discovered an additional 35 casualties in detention after these periods and verified them with Israeli authorities.

Despite the overall count of fatalities recorded being substantially larger than previous assessments, it likely fails to capture the entire scope of losses among Palestinians, per the director of the detainee affairs unit.

“While we are providing evidence for a higher number of casualties than once estimated, this is not the entire story,” he said. “We are sure that there are yet people who perished in confinement that we don’t know about.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Confidential Israeli data suggests that the majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who died in jail were non-combatants, according to a related investigation.

During May of this year, a armed services record monitoring all fighters in Gaza, a registry of in excess of 47,000 named individuals, listed just 21 casualties in custody. By that point, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had died in jail.

Prison Situation

Assault, torture, and other abuse of detainees from Palestine has been normalised across Israel’s prison network throughout two years of war. Top government figures have publicly referenced starvation rations and an below-ground detention center holding Palestinians who never see daylight.

Present and past prisoners and informants from the armed services have uniformly asserted routine infractions of human rights protocols.

Systemic Abuse

The institutionalised cruelty came with a troubling surge in fatalities documented across at least 12 detention centers in Israel. During the previous decade before the war, there were on average several casualties a year.

“This does not represent just an individual case occasionally. It is widespread and it is likely to persist,” an official said, in part due to the fact there is a culture of virtual exemption from consequences for harming and abusing Palestinians.

Only a single instance of beating detainees has proceeded to court, with the soldier handed a punishment to seven months. An attempt to prosecute other suspects over a brutal attack including abuse resulted in political demonstrations and the apprehension of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the accused individuals now requesting that charges against them be withdrawn.

Absence of Consequences

“Regardless of this significant total of deaths, over two years no one has been arrested,” the representative noted. “There are no prosecutions over any death.

“During the time these policies remain in effect, every Palestinian in custody is in danger, even the those in good health, even the youth who have no underlying conditions.”

High-Profile Cases

Some deaths in detention have been high profile, for instance a senior healthcare leader who lost his life in prison after a third of a year in custody.

A prisoner incarcerated with the victim stated that he was brought to the exercise area by prison staff shortly before his demise, visibly injured and naked from the hips downward. His remains has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Further inmates who perished in confinement by Israeli authorities remain anonymous. Correctional authorities and defense forces provided analysts with the number of deaths in custody, and minimal other details such as the facility where they died, but not the inmates’ personal details.

Documentation Problems

In 21 cases, mostly detainees from Gaza, investigators were not able to match the minimal data given by government bodies to a fatality registered by rights organisations, either through statements from released detainees or accounts in the news outlets.

The detainees’ families could be unaware about their relatives’ casualties also, as Israel has made it difficult to track Palestinians it is detaining. For seven months at the outset of the hostilities, the armed services refused to give fundamental details about the condition of many of persons held in Gaza, in effect implementing a practice of forced disappearance, per the advocacy organization.

Limited Transparency

Beginning last May, officials have provided an electronic contact for requests about detainees from Gaza, but this has resulted in merely a partial and limited enhancement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on