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Based on figures provided by Israel, no fewer than 98 detainees from Palestine have died while detained since October 2023. A human rights group located in Israel has indicated that the actual number is likely substantially higher, due to many of unaccounted for detainees in Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation documented deaths resulting from physical violence, lack of healthcare, and starvation. Analysts utilized official data requests, autopsy findings, and testimonies with attorneys, advocates, relatives, and eyewitnesses.

Government bodies released complete data limited to the opening period of the war. Over this period, official figures show an historically high death toll among Palestinian prisoners, amounting to one death every four days.

Latest Data

The military finalized data on deaths in detention for May 2024, and detention administration during September 2024. Analysts discovered another 35 casualties in custody after these timeframes and validated them with official sources.

Even with the aggregate figure of deaths documented being much greater than previous assessments, it almost certainly omits the full scale of losses among Palestinians, as stated by the head of the prisoners and detainees department.

“Even though we are providing evidence for a larger total of casualties than once estimated, this is not the entire story,” he explained. “We are confident that there are still people who lost their lives in custody that we are unaware of.”

Civilian Casualties

Confidential government records indicates that the vast majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who died in prison were non-combatants, per a parallel examination.

During May of this year, a defense forces registry monitoring all fighters in Gaza, a list of more than 47,000 named individuals, listed just 21 fatalities in detention. By that date, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had lost their lives in jail.

Custodial Environment

Brutality, torture, and other abuse of Palestinians has become routine across Israel’s detention facilities throughout the duration of conflict. Top government figures have publicly acknowledged inadequate food and an underground jail detaining Palestinians who are denied sunlight.

Present and past detainees and informants from the armed services have all alleged routine infractions of international law.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The institutionalised cruelty came with a disturbing rise in casualties recorded across at least 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. In the decade before the war, there were usually two or three fatalities a year.

“This is not merely an isolated incident sporadically. It is widespread and it is expected to endure,” a spokesperson stated, in part since there is a environment of virtual exemption from consequences for fatalities and maltreatment of Palestinian individuals.

Only a single instance of attacking inmates has proceeded to court, with the soldier handed a punishment to seven months. An effort to try additional individuals over a brutal attack involving abuse caused political demonstrations and the detention of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the suspects now demanding that charges against them are dropped.

Lack of Accountability

“Regardless of this large quantity of deaths, during 24 months not a single person has been arrested,” the official stated. “There have been no prosecutions over any death.

“As long as these policies remain in effect, each Palestinian individual in confinement is in danger, even the those in good health, even the juveniles who have no health problems.”

Prominent Examples

Several casualties in custody have been publicly known, such as a 50-year-old medical chief who lost his life in detention after four months in custody.

A detainee incarcerated with the individual stated that he was led to the courtyard by guards shortly before his death, visibly injured and unclothed from the lower body. His corpse has not been returned to Gaza.

Additional detainees who perished in Israeli custody are unidentified. Correctional authorities and armed services provided investigators with the total of fatalities in detention, and minimal further data for example the location where they perished, but not the prisoners’ names.

Recognition Difficulties

Regarding 21 occurrences, mostly people from Gaza, researchers were not able to match the limited information supplied by government bodies to a casualty documented by human rights groups, either through testimony from former inmates or coverage in the news outlets.

The inmates’ next of kin may not know about their family members’ fatalities as well, as Israel has made it difficult to track detainees it is detaining. During 210 days at the outset of the hostilities, the defense forces refused to supply essential data about the whereabouts of many of persons confined in Gaza, in effect enacting a practice of forced disappearance, per the human rights group.

Insufficient Disclosure

Starting in May 2024, authorities have created an email address for inquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has provided only a incomplete and restricted betterment. Investigators noted|observed|commented on