🔗 Share this article

According to figures released by Israel, a minimum of 98 detainees from Palestine have died while in custody since October 2023. A human rights group based in Israel has indicated that the real toll is almost certainly significantly greater, because of many of disappeared people from Gaza.

Study Results

A recent report recorded casualties caused by physical violence, failure to provide medical care, and starvation. Analysts used transparency petitions, forensic reports, and testimonies with legal representatives, activists, next of kin, and observers.

Government bodies released complete information limited to the first eight months of the war. During this time, government statistics indicate an unprecedented casualty rate among detained Palestinians, equating to a single fatality once every four-day period.

Latest Data

The military finalized records on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Researchers documented a further 35 fatalities in custody following these timeframes and validated them with government bodies.

Despite the total number of deaths charted being significantly higher than other recent estimates, it probably does not reflect the complete extent of losses among Palestinians, as stated by the director of the prisoners and detainees department.

“Although we are providing evidence for a larger total of casualties than previously reported, this is not a full picture,” he explained. “We are sure that there are still people who lost their lives in confinement that we don’t know about.”

Civilian Casualties

Classified government records shows that the largest portion of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who lost their lives in prison were non-combatants, per a related examination.

By May of this year, a defense forces registry following all fighters in Gaza, a registry of over 47,000 named individuals, documented only 21 fatalities in confinement. By that point, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had lost their lives in prison.

Prison Situation

Brutality, abuse, and additional maltreatment of Palestinians has been normalised across Israel’s prison network during 24 months of conflict. Senior officials have openly admitted inadequate food and an below-ground detention center detaining Palestinian individuals who are kept in darkness.

Current and former prisoners and insiders from the Israeli military have all alleged routine infractions of global standards.

Organized Maltreatment

The systematic abuse was accompanied by a alarming increase in casualties recorded across no fewer than 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. During the previous decade before the war, there were typically a couple fatalities a year.

“This does not represent just an individual case occasionally. It is systemic and it is expected to endure,” an official commented, in part because there is a climate of almost complete immunity for killing and mistreating Palestinians.

Only a single instance of assaulting detainees has come to trial, with the military personnel handed a punishment to 210 days. A endeavor to try additional individuals over a severe beating involving abuse caused public rallies and the apprehension of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the alleged perpetrators now demanding that indictments against them be withdrawn.

Lack of Accountability

“In spite of this large quantity of fatalities, over two years not a single person has been arrested,” the representative stated. “There have been no prosecutions over any death.

“While these practices remain in effect, each Palestinian individual in custody is in danger, including the healthy ones, also the youth who have no health problems.”

Notable Incidents

Some deaths in confinement have been high profile, for instance a senior healthcare leader who perished in prison after 120 days in detention.

A prisoner detained alongside the individual stated that he was taken to the yard by guards immediately preceding his passing, clearly wounded and naked from the lower body. His body has not been returned to Gaza.

Further inmates who lost their lives in detention in Israel are unidentified. Correctional authorities and defense forces supplied analysts with the total of fatalities in detention, and basic other details including the site where they lost their lives, but not the inmates’ personal details.

Documentation Problems

In 21 cases, mostly individuals from Gaza, researchers were unable to match the minimal data given by officials to a fatality recorded by advocacy bodies, by means of statements from released detainees or accounts in the press.

The prisoners’ relatives might not have learned about their relatives’ casualties either, as Israel has created obstacles to track detainees it is holding. During 210 days at the start of the conflict, the Israeli military would not provide to supply fundamental details about the condition of thousands of persons detained in Gaza, effectively carrying out a approach of forced disappearance, per the rights monitoring body.

Insufficient Disclosure

From May 2024, authorities have created an email address for enquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has provided only a modest and inadequate enhancement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on