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Based on information released by Israel, at least 98 Palestinian individuals have died while in custody beginning in October 2023. An advocacy organization operating from Israel has reported that the real number is almost certainly significantly higher, due to hundreds of missing people originating in Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation tracked casualties caused by assault, failure to provide medical care, and malnutrition. Researchers used official data requests, autopsy findings, and interviews with lawyers, advocates, next of kin, and observers.

Government bodies disclosed detailed information limited to the initial 240 days of the war. Throughout these months, government statistics reveal an unprecedented casualty rate among Palestinian detainees, averaging a life lost once every four-day period.

Recent Figures

The military finalized data on detention fatalities for May 2024, and the prison service in September 2024. Analysts identified an additional 35 casualties in confinement following these dates and verified them with government bodies.

Although the overall count of fatalities documented being much greater than other recent estimates, it likely does not reflect the complete extent of Palestinian casualties, per the director of the prisoners and detainees department.

“Even though we are offering documentation for a larger total of deaths than once estimated, this is an incomplete account,” he explained. “We are confident that there are even now people who lost their lives in custody that we are unaware of.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Classified Israeli data indicates that the vast majority of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who lost their lives in jail were civilians, per a related investigation.

During May of this year, a defense forces registry monitoring all fighters in Gaza, a registry of over 47,000 named individuals, recorded merely 21 fatalities in detention. At that time, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had perished in detention.

Prison Situation

Assault, torture, and further cruelty of Palestinian individuals is now standard practice across Israel’s detention facilities over two years of conflict. Top government figures have publicly referenced inadequate food and an subterranean prison detaining Palestinian individuals who never see daylight.

Current and former detainees and informants from the Israeli military have uniformly asserted systemic violations of global standards.

Systemic Abuse

The institutionalised cruelty came with a alarming increase in fatalities registered across no fewer than 12 prison sites in Israel. Over ten years preceding the war, there were typically two or three casualties a year.

“This does not represent merely an isolated incident occasionally. It is systemic and it will continue,” a representative commented, in part due to the fact there is a culture of near total impunity for harming and abusing Palestinians.

Only a single instance of assaulting inmates has proceeded to court, with the soldier sentenced to seven months. A endeavor to prosecute other suspects over a vicious assault including abuse resulted in public rallies and the arrest of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the alleged perpetrators now insisting that allegations against them are dropped.

Absence of Consequences

“Regardless of this large quantity of casualties, during 24 months no one has faced arrest,” the official said. “There are no indictments over any killing.

“While these practices continue to be enforced, all Palestinian detainees in confinement is at peril, including the physically well individuals, also the youth who have no health problems.”

Notable Incidents

Certain fatalities in confinement have been widely reported, for instance a middle-aged medical chief who died in detention after 120 days in confinement.

A detainee held with the victim reported that he was taken to the yard by correctional officers immediately preceding his demise, clearly wounded and naked from the waist down. His corpse has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Additional detainees who lost their lives in Israeli custody stay unnamed. Detention administrators and military provided researchers with the number of deaths in custody, and basic further data for example the site where they perished, but not the prisoners’ names.

Identification Challenges

Regarding 21 occurrences, primarily detainees from Gaza, investigators were not able to connect the minimal data supplied by officials to a fatality recorded by advocacy bodies, via statements from former inmates or coverage in the press.

The inmates’ next of kin might not have learned about their relatives’ casualties either, as Israel has made it difficult to locate detainees it is confining. Over half a year at the start of the hostilities, the armed services refused to provide basic information about the status of thousands of persons detained in Gaza, in effect implementing a practice of forced disappearance, according to the advocacy organization.

Limited Transparency

Starting in May 2024, officials have provided an email address for inquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited betterment. Researchers noted|observed|commented on