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Based on data released by Israel, at least 98 Palestinians have perished while in custody starting from October 2023. An advocacy organization based in Israel has stated that the real number is likely considerably larger, because of numerous of missing individuals originating in Gaza.

Study Results

A new investigation documented casualties resulting from brutality, failure to provide medical care, and inadequate nutrition. Analysts used official data requests, forensic reports, and interviews with lawyers, advocates, family members, and eyewitnesses.

Israeli authorities provided detailed statistics only for the opening period of the hostilities. Over this period, reported numbers show an historically high fatality rate among Palestinian prisoners, averaging one death once every four-day period.

Recent Figures

Israeli defense forces last updated records on detention fatalities for May 2024, and the prison service in September 2024. Investigators identified an additional 35 fatalities in detention following these dates and validated them with government bodies.

Even with the total number of deaths documented being substantially larger than other recent estimates, it likely does not reflect the entire scope of Palestinian casualties, as stated by the director of the prisoner monitoring division.

“Even though we are offering documentation for a greater figure of fatalities than once estimated, this is an incomplete account,” he stated. “We are confident that there are even now detainees who perished in confinement that we are unaware of.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Restricted Israeli data suggests that the vast majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who lost their lives in jail were ordinary citizens, per a parallel investigation.

In May of the current year, a military intelligence database following all militants in Gaza, a roster of in excess of 47,000 named individuals, documented merely 21 deaths in custody. At that time, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had died in detention.

Detention Conditions

Brutality, mistreatment, and further cruelty of Palestinians has been normalised across Israel’s detention facilities during two years of conflict. High-ranking authorities have publicly referenced minimal sustenance and an below-ground detention center holding Palestinian individuals who are kept in darkness.

Present and past detainees and whistleblowers from the defense forces have all alleged systemic violations of global standards.

Systemic Abuse

The institutionalised cruelty was accompanied by a troubling surge in casualties registered across at least 12 prison sites in Israel. In the decade before the hostilities, there were on average several deaths a year.

“This does not represent only a single occurrence sporadically. It is systemic and it will continue,” an official stated, partially since there is a culture of near total impunity for killing and mistreating Palestinian individuals.

Just one case of attacking prisoners has reached litigation, with the military personnel handed a punishment to seven months. An effort to try other suspects over a vicious assault including assault caused right-wing protests and the arrest of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the accused individuals now requesting that indictments against them be withdrawn.

Lack of Accountability

“Regardless of this large quantity of deaths, over two years not one individual has been detained,” the representative noted. “There are no charges over any death.

“As long as these measures are being applied, every Palestinian in custody is at peril, including the healthy ones, even the young ones who have no health problems.”

Notable Incidents

Several casualties in confinement have been publicly known, such as a senior hospital director who perished in detention after four months in custody.

An inmate detained alongside the victim reported that he was taken to the exercise area by guards just prior to his death, obviously hurt and unclothed from the waist down. His remains has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Other prisoners who died in Israeli custody are unidentified. Correctional authorities and military gave investigators with the figure of casualties in custody, and limited other details including the site where they died, but excluding the inmates’ personal details.

Identification Challenges

In 21 cases, primarily people from Gaza, investigators were not able to connect the minimal data provided by government bodies to a death documented by rights organisations, via statements from former inmates or coverage in the media.

The detainees’ families may not know about their relatives’ casualties either, as Israel has impeded efforts to track Palestinian individuals it is holding. During 210 days at the outset of the war, the defense forces refused to supply fundamental details about the whereabouts of thousands of people detained in Gaza, effectively implementing a practice of forced disappearance, per the human rights group.

Insufficient Disclosure

Starting in May 2024, officials have provided an electronic contact for enquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has provided only a incomplete and restricted enhancement. Researchers noted|observed|commented on