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According to data from Israel, a minimum of 98 detainees from Palestine have died while in custody beginning in October 2023. An advocacy organization based in Israel has indicated that the actual number is probably considerably greater, as a result of many of missing detainees originating in Gaza.

Report Findings

An updated study tracked deaths resulting from brutality, failure to provide medical care, and starvation. Investigators utilized transparency petitions, forensic reports, and interviews with legal representatives, activists, family members, and witnesses.

Israeli authorities released complete statistics solely covering the opening period of the conflict. Over this period, reported numbers indicate an unprecedented casualty rate among detained Palestinians, amounting to a single fatality each 96 hours.

Latest Data

Israeli defense forces most recently revised records on deaths in detention for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Investigators identified a further 35 deaths in detention following these dates and validated them with Israeli authorities.

Even with the aggregate figure of casualties documented being significantly higher than other recent estimates, it likely fails to capture the entire scope of losses among Palestinians, according to the director of the prisoners and detainees department.

“Even though we are offering documentation for a larger total of casualties than once estimated, this is not the entire story,” he explained. “We are certain that there are still detainees who perished in confinement that we have not identified.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Confidential government records shows that the vast majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who died in prison were civilians, based on a simultaneous investigation.

During May of the current year, a defense forces registry following all militants in Gaza, a registry of more than 47,000 listed people, listed just 21 fatalities in custody. By that date, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had perished in detention.

Custodial Environment

Assault, torture, and other abuse of Palestinian individuals has been normalised across Israel’s detention facilities over 24 months of war. High-ranking authorities have openly admitted inadequate food and an underground jail confining Palestinian individuals who never see daylight.

Existing and previous prisoners and insiders from the Israeli military have all alleged widespread breaches of international law.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The systematic abuse occurred alongside a alarming increase in casualties recorded across at least 12 detention centers in Israel. In the decade before the conflict, there were on average a couple fatalities a year.

“This isn’t only a single occurrence sporadically. It is institutional and it will continue,” an official stated, partly because there is a climate of almost complete immunity for harming and abusing detainees.

Only a single instance of assaulting inmates has proceeded to court, with the military personnel handed a punishment to half a year. An effort to try other suspects over a brutal attack including sexual violence caused public rallies and the detention of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the suspects now insisting that indictments against them be withdrawn.

Lack of Accountability

“Despite this significant total of fatalities, throughout the conflict not a single person has been detained,” the spokesperson stated. “There are no charges over any fatality.

“As long as these measures remain in effect, each Palestinian individual in confinement faces risk, even the those in good health, including the juveniles who have no underlying conditions.”

Notable Incidents

Some deaths in custody have been high profile, including a senior healthcare leader who lost his life in detention after 120 days in detention.

An inmate detained alongside the victim stated that he was brought to the courtyard by prison staff just prior to his death, visibly injured and unclothed from the waist down. His remains remains unreleased to Gaza.

Other prisoners who died in Israeli custody stay unnamed. Detention administrators and military supplied investigators with the number of deaths in detention, and minimal additional information such as the site where they died, but excluding the detainees’ identities.

Recognition Difficulties

For 21 instances, mainly detainees from Gaza, researchers could not to correlate the minimal data provided by government bodies to a fatality documented by human rights groups, either through statements from released detainees or accounts in the press.

The inmates’ next of kin may not know about their relatives’ casualties as well, as Israel has created obstacles to locate detainees it is detaining. Over half a year at the start of the conflict, the Israeli military would not provide to give basic information about the condition of many of individuals held in Gaza, effectively carrying out a policy of forced disappearance, as stated by the human rights group.

Insufficient Disclosure

Beginning last May, authorities have provided an electronic contact for inquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has provided only a modest and inadequate enhancement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on