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Per information from Israel, at least 98 Palestinian individuals have perished while in custody beginning in October 2023. An advocacy organization located in Israel has stated that the real toll is probably substantially larger, due to numerous of disappeared people from Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation documented fatalities attributed to physical violence, medical neglect, and inadequate nutrition. Researchers utilized transparency petitions, autopsy findings, and interviews with legal representatives, human rights defenders, relatives, and eyewitnesses.

Israeli authorities disclosed complete statistics only for the initial 240 days of the hostilities. Over this period, official figures reveal an unprecedented fatality rate among detained Palestinians, equating to one death once every four-day period.

Latest Data

The military last updated records on detention fatalities for May 2024, and detention administration during September 2024. Investigators documented an additional 35 deaths in confinement following these periods and verified them with official sources.

Although the aggregate figure of casualties recorded being substantially larger than other recent estimates, it likely fails to capture the full scale of Palestinian casualties, according to the director of the prisoner monitoring division.

“Even though we are providing evidence for a larger total of fatalities than earlier indicated, this is not the entire story,” he stated. “We are confident that there are still people who perished in confinement that we are unaware of.”

Civilian Deaths

Classified Israeli data shows that the largest portion of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who lost their lives in jail were civilians, per a simultaneous investigation.

In May of the current year, a military intelligence database following all militants in Gaza, a registry of more than 47,000 identified persons, documented only 21 fatalities in confinement. By that point, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had perished in detention.

Detention Conditions

Assault, mistreatment, and other abuse of Palestinians has been normalised across Israel’s prison network over the duration of hostilities. Senior officials have publicly acknowledged inadequate food and an underground jail confining Palestinians who are denied sunlight.

Existing and previous inmates and whistleblowers from the Israeli military have all alleged routine infractions of international law.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The institutionalised cruelty occurred alongside a disturbing rise in deaths registered across at least 12 detention centers in Israel. In the decade prior to the hostilities, there were typically two or three deaths a year.

“This isn’t just an individual case here and there. It is institutional and it is expected to endure,” an official commented, partially because there is a climate of near total impunity for killing and mistreating Palestinians.

Merely one incident of assaulting detainees has come to trial, with the soldier sentenced to half a year. An attempt to charge additional individuals over a vicious assault including sexual violence caused public rallies and the arrest of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the alleged perpetrators now requesting that charges against them are dropped.

Absence of Consequences

“Despite this significant total of deaths, throughout the conflict not one individual has been detained,” the spokesperson noted. “There are no indictments over any death.

“While these measures continue to be enforced, every Palestinian in custody is in danger, also the healthy ones, including the youth who have no health problems.”

Prominent Examples

Certain fatalities in detention have been high profile, including a senior hospital director who perished in detention after four months in confinement.

A prisoner held with the victim testified that he was taken to the yard by correctional officers immediately preceding his passing, obviously hurt and naked from the lower body. His body has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Other prisoners who died in Israeli custody stay unnamed. Detention administrators and defense forces provided researchers with the figure of fatalities in custody, and minimal other details including the site where they perished, but not the detainees’ identities.

Recognition Difficulties

In 21 cases, primarily people from Gaza, investigators were unable to correlate the few details provided by officials to a death documented by advocacy bodies, via accounts from freed prisoners or reporting in the news outlets.

The detainees’ families may not know 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 would not provide to give fundamental details about the whereabouts of many of people held in Gaza, in effect enacting a policy of forced disappearance, as stated by the human rights group.

Restricted Access

Beginning last May, government bodies have established an email address for enquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited improvement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on