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Based on data from Israel, at least 98 Palestinian individuals have lost their lives during detention starting from October 2023. A rights monitoring body operating from Israel has stated that the real number is probably substantially higher, as a result of hundreds of unaccounted for people in Gaza.

Study Results

A new investigation tracked fatalities caused by assault, lack of healthcare, and starvation. Investigators employed freedom of information requests, autopsy findings, and discussions with lawyers, advocates, next of kin, and witnesses.

Government bodies released detailed data solely covering the opening period of the conflict. During this time, government statistics reveal an historically high death toll among Palestinian prisoners, averaging one death each 96 hours.

Latest Data

Official armed forces finalized information on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Investigators discovered a further 35 casualties in confinement after these periods and confirmed them with Israeli authorities.

Even with the total number of casualties charted being significantly higher than earlier projections, it likely does not reflect the full scale of Palestinian loss, as stated by the head of the detainee affairs unit.

“While we are providing evidence for a larger total of deaths than earlier indicated, this is not the entire story,” he explained. “We are certain that there are even now detainees who died in confinement that we have not identified.”

Civilian Casualties

Confidential government records suggests that the majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who lost their lives in detention were ordinary citizens, according to a related inquiry.

During May of this year, a military intelligence database tracking all militants in Gaza, a roster of over 47,000 listed people, recorded just 21 fatalities in custody. By that point, 65 Gazans from Gaza had perished in prison.

Prison Situation

Assault, abuse, and other abuse of detainees from Palestine has been normalised across Israel’s jail system over two years of conflict. High-ranking authorities have openly admitted inadequate food and an underground jail confining detainees who are kept in darkness.

Current and former inmates and insiders from the armed services have uniformly asserted systemic violations of global standards.

Systemic Abuse

The organized mistreatment was accompanied by a disturbing rise in casualties documented across at least 12 prison sites in Israel. Over ten years before the conflict, there were typically several casualties a year.

“This isn’t only a single occurrence sporadically. It is widespread and it will continue,” a spokesperson stated, in part due to the fact there is a climate of near total impunity for harming and abusing Palestinians.

Just one case of attacking inmates has reached litigation, with the soldier sentenced to half a year. An effort to try others over a severe beating including assault resulted in political demonstrations and the detention of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the suspects now insisting that charges against them are dropped.

Lack of Accountability

“In spite of this significant total of deaths, throughout the conflict no one has been arrested,” the official said. “There have been no charges over any death.

“While these measures remain in effect, all Palestinian detainees in confinement is in danger, including the those in good health, even the young ones who have no underlying conditions.”

Prominent Examples

Several casualties in confinement have been publicly known, such as a middle-aged healthcare leader who died in confinement after 120 days in detention.

A prisoner detained alongside the deceased stated that he was brought to the courtyard by guards just prior to his passing, obviously hurt and exposed from the hips downward. His body has not been returned to Gaza.

Further inmates who lost their lives in detention in Israel stay unnamed. Detention administrators and military provided investigators with the total of fatalities in custody, and limited further data such as the facility where they died, but excluding the detainees’ identities.

Recognition Difficulties

In 21 cases, primarily detainees from Gaza, researchers were unable to correlate the few details given by government bodies to a fatality registered by advocacy bodies, by means of accounts from freed prisoners or accounts in the media.

The detainees’ families might not have learned about their loved ones’ deaths as well, as Israel has created obstacles to track detainees it is detaining. Over half a year at the outset of the war, the Israeli military refused to give fundamental details about the whereabouts of numerous of individuals detained in Gaza, effectively carrying out a practice of involuntary missing persons, as stated by the human rights group.

Insufficient Disclosure

Beginning last May, officials have created an digital correspondence for inquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has led to just a partial and limited betterment. Researchers noted|observed|commented on