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According to data released by Israel, at least 98 detainees from Palestine have perished during detention beginning in October 2023. An advocacy organization operating from Israel has reported that the actual figure is probably substantially higher, as a result of hundreds of unaccounted for people originating in Gaza.

Investigation Outcomes

A new investigation documented fatalities resulting from brutality, failure to provide medical care, and malnutrition. Researchers utilized transparency petitions, autopsy findings, and interviews with legal representatives, human rights defenders, family members, and witnesses.

Israeli authorities released complete statistics limited to the opening period of the conflict. During this time, official figures reveal an historically high casualty rate among detained Palestinians, amounting to a life lost each 96 hours.

Recent Figures

Official armed forces last updated records on deaths in detention for May 2024, and detention administration in September 2024. Analysts documented another 35 deaths in custody following these dates and verified them with official sources.

Although the aggregate figure of casualties charted being much greater than other recent estimates, it probably fails to capture the complete extent of Palestinian casualties, per the director of the detainee affairs unit.

“Even though we are offering documentation for a greater figure of deaths than once estimated, this is an incomplete account,” he said. “We are sure that there are still people who died in confinement that we have not identified.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Restricted government records shows that the vast majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who perished in prison were ordinary citizens, based on a related investigation.

During May of this year, a defense forces registry monitoring all combatants in Gaza, a roster of over 47,000 named individuals, recorded just 21 casualties in confinement. By that point, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had lost their lives in prison.

Custodial Environment

Physical violence, torture, and further cruelty of detainees from Palestine has become routine across Israel’s prison network during two years of hostilities. High-ranking authorities have publicly acknowledged inadequate food and an below-ground detention center holding detainees who are kept in darkness.

Existing and previous prisoners and insiders from the defense forces have collectively claimed widespread breaches of international law.

Organized Maltreatment

The systematic abuse was accompanied by a disturbing rise in fatalities registered across at least 12 prison sites in Israel. Over ten years prior to the hostilities, there were on average a couple casualties a year.

“This isn’t just an individual case here and there. It is widespread and it is likely to persist,” a representative said, partly due to the fact there is a culture of near total impunity for killing and mistreating detainees.

Just one case of beating prisoners has reached litigation, with the service member given a penalty to seven months. An attempt to charge other suspects over a severe beating involving abuse led to public rallies and the arrest of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the alleged perpetrators now demanding that allegations against them be dismissed.

No Legal Action

“Regardless of this significant total of fatalities, over two years not a single person has been arrested,” the official noted. “There have been no charges over any death.

“As long as these policies continue to be enforced, each Palestinian individual in custody is at peril, also the those in good health, also the youth who have no health problems.”

Prominent Examples

Certain fatalities in detention have been widely reported, for instance a senior medical chief who perished in prison after 120 days in custody.

An inmate incarcerated with the victim testified that he was led to the exercise area by guards immediately preceding his demise, obviously hurt and unclothed from the lower body. His body has not been returned to Gaza.

Additional detainees who lost their lives in detention in Israel are unidentified. Detention administrators and armed services supplied analysts with the total of deaths in detention, and minimal further data including the facility where they died, but without the prisoners’ names.

Identification Challenges

In 21 cases, primarily individuals from Gaza, investigators were not able to connect the limited information given by government bodies to a casualty recorded by advocacy bodies, by means of statements from released detainees or accounts in the press.

The detainees’ families could be unaware about their relatives’ casualties as well, as Israel has created obstacles to track Palestinians it is detaining. During 210 days at the outset of the conflict, the armed services would not provide to supply essential data about the whereabouts of thousands of people held in Gaza, practically carrying out a practice of unacknowledged detention, per the rights monitoring body.

Restricted Access

Starting in May 2024, officials have created an email address for requests about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has led to just a partial and limited betterment. Investigators noted|observed|commented on