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Per figures from Israel, a minimum of 98 detainees from Palestine have died while detained beginning in October 2023. An advocacy organization operating from Israel has reported that the real number is likely considerably greater, as a result of many of disappeared people from Gaza.

Study Results

A new investigation tracked casualties caused by physical violence, lack of healthcare, and starvation. Researchers used transparency petitions, forensic reports, and testimonies with legal representatives, advocates, relatives, and observers.

Israeli authorities disclosed detailed statistics only for the opening period of the hostilities. During this time, government statistics reveal an unprecedented casualty rate among detained Palestinians, amounting to a single fatality every four days.

Recent Figures

The military last updated information on deaths in detention for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Researchers discovered an additional 35 deaths in confinement following these dates and verified them with official sources.

Despite the total number of deaths documented being significantly higher than other recent estimates, it almost certainly omits the entire scope of Palestinian loss, per the head of the prisoner monitoring division.

“Even though we are providing evidence for a greater figure of casualties than previously reported, this is not the entire story,” he said. “We are confident that there are yet individuals who lost their lives in custody that we don’t know about.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Classified government records shows that the vast majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who perished in detention were ordinary citizens, according to a parallel inquiry.

By May of this year, a military intelligence database following all combatants in Gaza, a registry of over 47,000 named individuals, recorded only 21 deaths in custody. By that point, 65 Gazans from Gaza had lost their lives in jail.

Detention Conditions

Assault, abuse, and further cruelty of Palestinians is now standard practice across Israel’s prison network over 24 months of conflict. High-ranking authorities have publicly referenced starvation rations and an subterranean prison detaining detainees who never see daylight.

Existing and previous detainees and informants from the armed services have uniformly asserted systemic violations of global standards.

Organized Maltreatment

The systematic abuse was accompanied by a disturbing rise in deaths documented across no fewer than 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. During the previous decade before the war, there were usually two or three fatalities a year.

“This is not only a single occurrence here and there. It is systemic and it will continue,” a spokesperson said, partly due to the fact there is a environment of near total impunity for fatalities and maltreatment of Palestinian individuals.

Just one case of assaulting inmates has reached litigation, with the soldier handed a punishment to 210 days. A endeavor to prosecute others over a severe beating featuring sexual violence caused political demonstrations and the detention of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the suspects now requesting that charges against them be dismissed.

Lack of Accountability

“In spite of this significant total of casualties, during 24 months not a single person has been arrested,” the spokesperson said. “There have been no indictments over any killing.

“During the time these measures are being applied, all Palestinian detainees in custody faces risk, including the physically well individuals, also the young ones who have no underlying conditions.”

High-Profile Cases

Some deaths in confinement have been high profile, including a middle-aged hospital director who lost his life in prison after four months in custody.

A detainee detained alongside the individual stated that he was brought to the yard by prison staff shortly before his death, clearly wounded and naked from the lower body. His body has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Other prisoners who died in confinement by Israeli authorities stay unnamed. The prison service and defense forces gave researchers with the total of deaths in detention, and limited further data such as the facility where they perished, but not the prisoners’ names.

Identification Challenges

Regarding 21 occurrences, mainly detainees from Gaza, analysts were not able to match the minimal data supplied by officials to a death registered by advocacy bodies, either through statements from former inmates or reporting in the press.

The detainees’ families might not have learned about their relatives’ casualties as well, as Israel has impeded efforts to locate detainees it is confining. During 210 days at the start of the war, the Israeli military refused to provide fundamental details about the status of numerous of persons held in Gaza, effectively implementing a practice of involuntary missing persons, according to the advocacy organization.

Restricted Access

From May 2024, officials have established an electronic contact for inquiries about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited betterment. Analysts noted|observed|commented on