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Per figures released by Israel, no fewer than 98 detainees from Palestine have lost their lives during detention since October 2023. A human rights group located in Israel has reported that the real figure is almost certainly substantially larger, as a result of hundreds of unaccounted for detainees originating in Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation recorded deaths caused by physical violence, lack of healthcare, and malnutrition. Analysts employed freedom of information requests, medical examiner documents, and discussions with legal representatives, human rights defenders, next of kin, and observers.

Israeli authorities disclosed complete information solely covering the first eight months of the war. During this time, government statistics show an record casualty rate among Palestinian detainees, averaging one death each 96 hours.

Updated Statistics

Israeli defense forces last updated data on deaths in detention for May 2024, and the prison service in September 2024. Analysts identified an additional 35 casualties in custody after these timeframes and confirmed them with official sources.

Despite the overall count of casualties documented being significantly higher than previous assessments, it likely omits the complete extent of Palestinian casualties, per the director of the detainee affairs unit.

“Although we are presenting proof for a larger total of casualties than earlier indicated, this is not a full picture,” he said. “We are certain that there are yet detainees who perished in custody that we have not identified.”

Civilian Deaths

Classified official information indicates that the majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who perished in prison were non-combatants, based on a related investigation.

By May of 2024, a military intelligence database tracking all fighters in Gaza, a list of in excess of 47,000 identified persons, documented just 21 fatalities in confinement. By that date, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had perished in jail.

Custodial Environment

Physical violence, mistreatment, and further cruelty of Palestinian individuals is now standard practice across Israel’s jail system throughout two years of hostilities. Senior officials have openly admitted starvation rations and an subterranean prison holding detainees who are kept in darkness.

Present and past detainees and insiders from the defense forces have all alleged systemic violations of international law.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The organized mistreatment occurred alongside a alarming increase in casualties documented across at least 12 detention centers in Israel. Over ten years preceding the hostilities, there were typically a couple casualties a year.

“This isn’t just an individual case here and there. It is institutional and it will continue,” a spokesperson stated, in part since there is a environment of near total impunity for killing and mistreating detainees.

Merely one incident of attacking inmates has proceeded to court, with the military personnel given a penalty to half a year. An attempt to prosecute others over a vicious assault featuring sexual violence caused political demonstrations and the arrest of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the suspects now insisting that charges against them be dismissed.

Absence of Consequences

“Despite this mass number of fatalities, throughout the conflict no one has been detained,” the official noted. “There are no charges over any fatality.

“During the time these measures continue to be enforced, all Palestinian detainees in custody is at peril, including the healthy ones, also the youth who have no medical issues.”

High-Profile Cases

Several casualties in custody have been widely reported, for instance a senior medical chief who died in prison after four months in custody.

A detainee incarcerated with the victim stated that he was taken to the courtyard by guards just prior to his death, obviously hurt and naked from the lower body. His remains has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Further inmates who perished in Israeli custody stay unnamed. Correctional authorities and defense forces supplied analysts with the number of fatalities in confinement, and basic other details for example the location where they lost their lives, but excluding the prisoners’ names.

Recognition Difficulties

In 21 cases, mainly people from Gaza, analysts could not to match the minimal data provided by authorities to a death registered by rights organisations, either through statements from released detainees or reporting in the press.

The prisoners’ relatives could be unaware about their relatives’ casualties also, as Israel has impeded efforts to track detainees it is confining. Over half a year at the outset of the war, the defense forces would not provide to provide basic information about the status of numerous of individuals detained in Gaza, effectively enacting a practice of forced disappearance, per the rights monitoring body.

Limited Transparency

Starting in May 2024, authorities have provided an electronic contact for requests about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited enhancement. Investigators noted|observed|commented on