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Based on figures provided by Israel, no fewer than 98 Palestinians have died during detention since October 2023. An advocacy organization based in Israel has reported that the real toll is likely significantly greater, due to numerous of unaccounted for individuals originating in Gaza.

Investigation Outcomes

A recent report documented casualties attributed to brutality, lack of healthcare, and starvation. Investigators used official data requests, medical examiner documents, and interviews with legal representatives, human rights defenders, relatives, and witnesses.

Government bodies disclosed detailed data limited to the first eight months of the hostilities. During this time, reported numbers show an unprecedented death toll among Palestinian detainees, equating to one death every four days.

Updated Statistics

Official armed forces finalized records on deaths in detention for May 2024, and detention administration by September 2024. Researchers discovered an additional 35 fatalities in confinement following these dates and verified them with Israeli authorities.

Even with the overall count of casualties recorded being substantially larger than other recent estimates, it almost certainly omits the entire scope of Palestinian loss, as stated by the director of the detainee affairs unit.

“While we are providing evidence for a larger total of casualties than earlier indicated, this is not the entire story,” he explained. “We are confident that there are yet individuals who died in custody that we have not identified.”

Civilian Casualties

Classified official information shows that the largest portion of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who died in prison were civilians, per a parallel inquiry.

In May of this year, a defense forces registry monitoring all fighters in Gaza, a registry of in excess of 47,000 identified persons, recorded only 21 fatalities in confinement. At that time, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had perished in detention.

Custodial Environment

Assault, mistreatment, and further cruelty of detainees from Palestine has become routine across Israel’s prison network throughout the duration of hostilities. Senior officials have openly admitted minimal sustenance and an below-ground detention center confining Palestinians who never see daylight.

Existing and previous detainees and informants from the armed services have all alleged routine infractions of international law.

Organized Maltreatment

The institutionalised cruelty occurred alongside a disturbing rise in deaths registered across a minimum of 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. In the decade preceding the hostilities, there were usually a couple deaths a year.

“This isn’t merely an isolated incident here and there. It is systemic and it will continue,” an official commented, partly because there is a culture of near total impunity for harming and abusing detainees.

Merely one incident of assaulting prisoners has reached litigation, with the military personnel sentenced to 210 days. An attempt to charge other suspects over a brutal attack including abuse caused political demonstrations and the apprehension of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the alleged perpetrators now insisting that charges against them be dismissed.

No Legal Action

“Despite this mass number of deaths, throughout the conflict not one individual has faced arrest,” the official stated. “There are no indictments over any killing.

“During the time these practices continue to be enforced, every Palestinian in custody is in danger, even the those in good health, including the juveniles who have no medical issues.”

Prominent Examples

Some deaths in confinement have been publicly known, such as a senior medical chief who lost his life in prison after 120 days in custody.

An inmate incarcerated with the victim testified that he was taken to the exercise area by guards immediately preceding his demise, visibly injured and unclothed from the hips downward. His remains has not been returned to Gaza.

Additional detainees who lost their lives in confinement by Israeli authorities remain anonymous. The prison service and military supplied researchers with the total of deaths in custody, and limited additional information such as the site where they perished, but excluding the detainees’ identities.

Recognition Difficulties

In 21 cases, mostly detainees from Gaza, researchers could not to correlate the limited information provided by officials to a casualty documented by advocacy bodies, by means of statements from former inmates or accounts in the news outlets.

The inmates’ next of kin could be unaware about their family members’ fatalities either, as Israel has impeded efforts to locate Palestinian individuals it is detaining. During 210 days at the start of the war, the Israeli military would not provide to give basic information about the whereabouts of many of individuals held in Gaza, practically carrying out a practice of forced disappearance, as stated by the advocacy organization.

Restricted Access

From May 2024, officials have provided an digital correspondence for enquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited betterment. Analysts noted|observed|commented on