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Based on figures provided by Israel, a minimum of 98 Palestinian individuals have died while detained since October 2023. An advocacy organization based in Israel has reported that the real figure is probably significantly larger, due to many of missing detainees originating in Gaza.

Report Findings

A recent report recorded deaths resulting from brutality, lack of healthcare, and inadequate nutrition. Researchers used official data requests, forensic reports, and discussions with legal representatives, human rights defenders, family members, and witnesses.

Government bodies disclosed detailed statistics only for the first eight months of the conflict. Over this period, government statistics show an historically high fatality rate among Palestinian prisoners, averaging one death each 96 hours.

Latest Data

The military last updated records on deaths in detention for May 2024, and correctional authorities during September 2024. Investigators identified a further 35 deaths in detention after these dates and validated them with official sources.

Even with the overall count of casualties recorded being significantly higher than earlier projections, it almost certainly fails to capture the full scale of Palestinian casualties, according to the leader of the detainee affairs unit.

“Although we are presenting proof for a greater figure of deaths than previously reported, this is not the entire story,” he said. “We are confident that there are still people who lost their lives in confinement that we have not identified.”

Civilian Casualties

Restricted government records suggests that the vast majority of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who died in detention were ordinary citizens, according to a simultaneous inquiry.

In May of this year, a military intelligence database following all fighters in Gaza, a roster of over 47,000 identified persons, documented just 21 deaths in detention. By that point, 65 Gazans from Gaza had perished in jail.

Prison Situation

Physical violence, abuse, and other abuse of detainees from Palestine has been normalised across Israel’s detention facilities over the duration of conflict. High-ranking authorities have openly admitted inadequate food and an underground jail holding Palestinian individuals who are denied sunlight.

Present and past inmates and whistleblowers from the armed services have collectively claimed widespread breaches of global standards.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The systematic abuse came with a troubling surge in casualties recorded across a minimum of 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. During the previous decade preceding the war, there were usually a couple fatalities a year.

“This isn’t only a single occurrence here and there. It is institutional and it is likely to persist,” a spokesperson said, partially due to the fact there is a culture of almost complete immunity for killing and mistreating detainees.

Just one case of assaulting inmates has proceeded to court, with the service member handed a punishment to 210 days. An effort to prosecute additional individuals over a severe beating including sexual violence led to public rallies and the apprehension of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the suspects now demanding that charges against them be withdrawn.

Lack of Accountability

“In spite of this significant total of fatalities, over two years not a single person has been arrested,” the spokesperson stated. “There are no indictments over any killing.

“As long as these practices are being applied, all Palestinian detainees in custody is at peril, also the healthy ones, including the juveniles who have no underlying conditions.”

Notable Incidents

Some deaths in detention have been high profile, including a senior healthcare leader who lost his life in prison after four months in confinement.

A detainee detained alongside the deceased stated that he was taken to the courtyard by prison staff shortly before his passing, visibly injured and unclothed from the waist down. His remains has not been returned to Gaza.

Further inmates who lost their lives in confinement by Israeli authorities stay unnamed. Correctional authorities and defense forces provided investigators with the number of fatalities in custody, and minimal further data such as the location where they lost their lives, but not the inmates’ personal details.

Documentation Problems

Regarding 21 occurrences, primarily people from Gaza, investigators were not able to connect the limited information provided by officials to a fatality documented by rights organisations, either through statements from freed prisoners or coverage in the media.

The prisoners’ relatives might not have learned about their loved ones’ deaths as well, as Israel has created obstacles to locate Palestinian individuals it is detaining. During 210 days at the start of the hostilities, the armed services declined to provide basic information about the status of many of individuals detained in Gaza, effectively implementing a practice of involuntary missing persons, per the advocacy organization.

Insufficient Disclosure

From May 2024, government bodies have established an digital correspondence for requests about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has resulted in merely a modest and inadequate betterment. Analysts noted|observed|commented on