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Based on figures released by Israel, no fewer than 98 detainees from Palestine have lost their lives during detention beginning in October 2023. A rights monitoring body based in Israel has indicated that the true toll is likely substantially larger, because of hundreds of missing detainees in Gaza.

Report Findings

An updated study documented fatalities caused by assault, medical neglect, and starvation. Researchers used transparency petitions, medical examiner documents, and discussions with attorneys, human rights defenders, next of kin, and witnesses.

Government bodies disclosed detailed statistics limited to the first eight months of the conflict. Over this period, government statistics reveal an record casualty rate among Palestinian detainees, averaging one death each 96 hours.

Latest Data

The military finalized data on deaths in detention for May 2024, and the prison service in September 2024. Investigators discovered an additional 35 fatalities in detention subsequent to these dates and verified them with government bodies.

Despite the total number of fatalities charted being much greater than previous assessments, it likely does not reflect the entire scope of Palestinian loss, according to the head of the prisoners and detainees department.

“While we are presenting proof for a larger total of casualties than previously reported, this is an incomplete account,” he explained. “We are certain that there are still people who died in custody that we are unaware of.”

Civilian Casualties

Confidential Israeli data indicates that the vast majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who died in jail were non-combatants, per a parallel investigation.

By May of 2024, a armed services record tracking all militants in Gaza, a registry of over 47,000 identified persons, documented only 21 casualties in detention. By that point, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had died in jail.

Detention Conditions

Assault, torture, and additional maltreatment of Palestinian individuals has been normalised across Israel’s jail system over two years of war. Senior officials have publicly referenced inadequate food and an below-ground detention center confining Palestinian individuals who are denied sunlight.

Current and former detainees and whistleblowers from the Israeli military have uniformly asserted systemic violations of global standards.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The institutionalised cruelty was accompanied by a troubling surge in deaths documented across a minimum of 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. During the previous decade preceding the war, there were typically two or three deaths a year.

“This does not represent only a single occurrence sporadically. It is systemic and it is likely to persist,” a representative commented, partially due to the fact there is a climate of near total impunity for killing and mistreating detainees.

Merely one incident of attacking inmates has proceeded to court, with the soldier sentenced to half a year. An attempt to prosecute others over a severe beating including abuse resulted in right-wing protests and the arrest of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the alleged perpetrators now insisting that indictments against them be withdrawn.

Lack of Accountability

“Regardless of this significant total of deaths, during 24 months not one individual has been arrested,” the spokesperson stated. “There have been no prosecutions over any killing.

“As long as these practices continue to be enforced, each Palestinian individual in detention is in danger, even the those in good health, including the juveniles who have no underlying conditions.”

Notable Incidents

Certain fatalities in custody have been high profile, for instance a 50-year-old hospital director who perished in detention after 120 days in detention.

An inmate held with the deceased stated that he was led to the courtyard by correctional officers just prior to his demise, visibly injured and exposed from the waist down. His remains has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Further inmates who perished in Israeli custody stay unnamed. Detention administrators and military gave investigators with the total of fatalities in custody, and minimal further data such as the facility where they died, but excluding the inmates’ personal details.

Identification Challenges

Regarding 21 occurrences, primarily people from Gaza, researchers could not to connect the limited information given by officials to a casualty recorded by advocacy bodies, either through statements from former inmates or coverage in the press.

The detainees’ families may not know about their loved ones’ deaths either, as Israel has made it difficult to track Palestinians it is confining. For seven months at the outset of the hostilities, the defense forces declined to give fundamental details about the status of thousands of individuals confined in Gaza, effectively enacting a practice of unacknowledged detention, as stated by the human rights group.

Limited Transparency

Beginning last May, officials have provided an email address for requests about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited betterment. Researchers noted|observed|commented on