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Based on data released by Israel, no fewer than 98 Palestinians have perished while detained starting from October 2023. A rights monitoring body based in Israel has reported that the true figure is probably substantially greater, as a result of many of unaccounted for individuals in Gaza.

Study Results

A recent report documented deaths resulting from brutality, failure to provide medical care, and starvation. Analysts used official data requests, medical examiner documents, and testimonies with legal representatives, advocates, relatives, and observers.

Government bodies disclosed complete information limited to the first eight months of the hostilities. Over this period, reported numbers reveal an record fatality rate among Palestinian detainees, averaging one death every four days.

Latest Data

Israeli defense forces finalized data on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities in September 2024. Investigators discovered an additional 35 fatalities in custody following these timeframes and validated them with government bodies.

Even with the total number of fatalities documented being significantly higher than other recent estimates, it likely does not reflect the complete extent of losses among Palestinians, per the head of the detainee affairs unit.

“Even though we are presenting proof for a greater figure of fatalities than earlier indicated, this is not a full picture,” he said. “We are confident that there are yet detainees who died in confinement that we don’t know about.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Restricted government records suggests that the largest portion of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who lost their lives in prison were non-combatants, according to a simultaneous investigation.

During May of the current year, a military intelligence database following all fighters in Gaza, a registry of over 47,000 identified persons, documented only 21 casualties in confinement. At that time, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had perished in prison.

Prison Situation

Physical violence, mistreatment, and other abuse of detainees from Palestine has been normalised across Israel’s prison network over two years of conflict. Top government figures have openly admitted inadequate food and an subterranean prison detaining Palestinians who never see daylight.

Current and former detainees and whistleblowers from the defense forces have uniformly asserted routine infractions of global standards.

Systemic Abuse

The systematic abuse was accompanied by a troubling surge in fatalities documented across a minimum of 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. During the previous decade prior to the conflict, there were usually a couple casualties a year.

“This isn’t only a single occurrence sporadically. It is systemic and it is expected to endure,” a spokesperson said, in part because there is a culture of near total impunity for harming and abusing detainees.

Only a single instance of attacking prisoners has proceeded to court, with the service member given a penalty to seven months. An attempt to charge others over a severe beating involving abuse caused political demonstrations and the arrest of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the suspects now demanding that indictments against them be dismissed.

Absence of Consequences

“In spite of this mass number of casualties, during 24 months not one individual has been detained,” the representative said. “There are no charges over any fatality.

“During the time these policies are being applied, every Palestinian in detention is in danger, including the those in good health, even the youth who have no underlying conditions.”

Prominent Examples

Several casualties in confinement have been widely reported, for instance a middle-aged medical chief who lost his life in prison after 120 days in confinement.

A prisoner held with the victim stated that he was led to the yard by correctional officers just prior to his death, obviously hurt and exposed from the hips downward. His body has not been returned to Gaza.

Further inmates who perished in Israeli custody remain anonymous. Correctional authorities and defense forces provided researchers with the total of fatalities in confinement, and basic further data for example the location where they lost their lives, but excluding the detainees’ identities.

Documentation Problems

Regarding 21 occurrences, mainly detainees from Gaza, analysts were not able to correlate the limited information provided by officials to a casualty documented by rights organisations, by means of statements from former inmates or coverage in the press.

The inmates’ next of kin could be unaware about their relatives’ casualties as well, as Israel has made it difficult to track Palestinian individuals it is holding. During 210 days at the beginning of the conflict, the defense forces would not provide to provide basic information about the condition of thousands of persons confined in Gaza, in effect carrying out a policy of involuntary missing persons, according to the rights monitoring body.

Insufficient Disclosure

Beginning last May, authorities have provided an digital correspondence for inquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited improvement. Researchers noted|observed|commented on