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According to data provided by Israel, at least 98 detainees from Palestine have perished while in custody since October 2023. An advocacy organization operating from Israel has stated that the actual number is almost certainly substantially larger, as a result of hundreds of unaccounted for people in Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation recorded fatalities attributed to brutality, medical neglect, and starvation. Researchers used transparency petitions, forensic reports, and discussions with legal representatives, advocates, family members, and eyewitnesses.

Israeli authorities disclosed detailed statistics solely covering the opening period of the conflict. Throughout these months, official figures reveal an record casualty rate among detained Palestinians, averaging a single fatality each 96 hours.

Latest Data

Israeli defense forces most recently revised information on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Researchers documented an additional 35 fatalities in confinement after these dates and validated them with official sources.

Despite the total number of fatalities recorded being much greater than previous assessments, it likely does not reflect the entire scope of losses among Palestinians, as stated by the head of the prisoner monitoring division.

“While we are presenting proof for a larger total of fatalities than previously reported, this is an incomplete account,” he stated. “We are certain that there are yet individuals who lost their lives in custody that we have not identified.”

Civilian Deaths

Restricted Israeli data shows that the majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who lost their lives in prison were civilians, based on a parallel inquiry.

In May of this year, a military intelligence database following all fighters in Gaza, a list of more than 47,000 listed people, documented merely 21 casualties in confinement. By that point, 65 Gazans from Gaza had perished in detention.

Detention Conditions

Physical violence, mistreatment, and further cruelty of detainees from Palestine has been normalised across Israel’s prison network over two years of war. Top government figures have openly admitted minimal sustenance and an underground jail confining Palestinian individuals who never see daylight.

Present and past prisoners and whistleblowers from the defense forces have uniformly asserted routine infractions of human rights protocols.

Systemic Abuse

The organized mistreatment occurred alongside a troubling surge in fatalities registered across at least 12 detention centers in Israel. Over ten years before the hostilities, there were usually two or three fatalities a year.

“This does not represent just an individual case sporadically. It is systemic and it will continue,” an official stated, partially because there is a culture of almost complete immunity for killing and mistreating Palestinian individuals.

Just one case of attacking prisoners has come to trial, with the soldier handed a punishment to seven months. An attempt to prosecute additional individuals over a severe beating involving assault led to political demonstrations and the detention of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the suspects now insisting that charges against them be withdrawn.

No Legal Action

“In spite of this large quantity of fatalities, during 24 months not one individual has been arrested,” the representative noted. “There exist no indictments over any death.

“As long as these measures remain in effect, each Palestinian individual in confinement is at peril, including the physically well individuals, also the young ones who have no medical issues.”

High-Profile Cases

Certain fatalities in custody have been publicly known, for instance a middle-aged healthcare leader who perished in confinement after a third of a year in custody.

A detainee held with the victim stated that he was taken to the yard by guards immediately preceding his death, visibly injured and naked from the waist down. His remains has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Further inmates who perished in Israeli custody stay unnamed. Correctional authorities and military gave investigators with the total of fatalities in detention, and limited additional information for example the facility where they died, but without the prisoners’ names.

Documentation Problems

Regarding 21 occurrences, primarily detainees from Gaza, analysts could not to correlate the limited information provided by authorities to a death recorded by human rights groups, either through statements from former inmates or coverage in the media.

The prisoners’ relatives may not know about their family members’ fatalities either, as Israel has impeded efforts to monitor Palestinian individuals it is detaining. During 210 days at the start of the conflict, the Israeli military declined to give essential data about the condition of many of individuals confined in Gaza, in effect carrying out a practice of involuntary missing persons, as stated by the rights monitoring body.

Insufficient Disclosure

Starting in May 2024, authorities have provided an email address for inquiries about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has provided only a modest and inadequate enhancement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on