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Based on data released by Israel, at least 98 Palestinians have died while in custody beginning in October 2023. An advocacy organization operating from Israel has indicated that the true number is probably significantly higher, due to hundreds of disappeared detainees from Gaza.

Study Results

A recent report recorded fatalities caused by brutality, failure to provide medical care, and inadequate nutrition. Analysts employed freedom of information requests, medical examiner documents, and discussions with lawyers, advocates, relatives, and observers.

Government bodies released detailed data solely covering the opening period of the war. During this time, official figures show an record death toll among Palestinian detainees, equating to one death each 96 hours.

Latest Data

The military last updated records on deaths in detention for May 2024, and detention administration during September 2024. Investigators identified a further 35 deaths in custody following these dates and verified them with Israeli authorities.

Even with the aggregate figure of casualties recorded being much greater than other recent estimates, it probably does not reflect the full scale of Palestinian loss, per the head of the prisoners and detainees department.

“Even though we are offering documentation for a larger total of deaths than previously reported, this is not a full picture,” he said. “We are confident that there are still people who died in custody that we are unaware of.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Classified official information shows that the largest portion of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who lost their lives in detention were ordinary citizens, based on a parallel inquiry.

By May of 2024, a defense forces registry tracking all militants in Gaza, a list of more than 47,000 listed people, recorded only 21 casualties in custody. At that time, 65 Gazans from Gaza had died in detention.

Custodial Environment

Physical violence, abuse, and other abuse of Palestinians has been normalised across Israel’s prison network throughout the duration of war. Top government figures have publicly acknowledged minimal sustenance and an underground jail holding Palestinian individuals who are denied sunlight.

Present and past inmates and whistleblowers from the defense forces have all alleged routine infractions of human rights protocols.

Systemic Abuse

The institutionalised cruelty came with a troubling surge in casualties documented across a minimum of 12 detention centers in Israel. During the previous decade before the hostilities, there were typically a couple deaths a year.

“This isn’t only a single occurrence sporadically. It is widespread and it is expected to endure,” an official stated, partially since there is a climate of near total impunity for harming and abusing Palestinians.

Only a single instance of attacking detainees has proceeded to court, with the service member given a penalty to half a year. An effort to try others over a brutal attack involving assault caused political demonstrations and the detention of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the accused individuals now demanding that charges against them be withdrawn.

Lack of Accountability

“Despite this significant total of fatalities, over two years not a single person has faced arrest,” the representative said. “There have been no indictments over any killing.

“While these practices continue to be enforced, all Palestinian detainees in custody is at peril, also the those in good health, including the young ones who have no medical issues.”

Prominent Examples

Certain fatalities in confinement have been high profile, including a middle-aged medical chief who died in detention after 120 days in detention.

A prisoner detained alongside the individual stated that he was taken to the exercise area by prison staff just prior to his passing, visibly injured and exposed from the hips downward. His corpse has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Further inmates who lost their lives in detention in Israel stay unnamed. The prison service and military provided researchers with the figure of deaths in detention, and minimal other details for example the location where they died, but not the inmates’ personal details.

Identification Challenges

In 21 cases, mostly people from Gaza, researchers were unable to connect the minimal data given by government bodies to a fatality documented by advocacy bodies, via testimony from former inmates or accounts in the press.

The prisoners’ relatives could be unaware about their loved ones’ deaths as well, as Israel has impeded efforts to track Palestinian individuals it is detaining. Over half a year at the outset of the war, the Israeli military declined to supply essential data about the condition of thousands of people held in Gaza, effectively carrying out a practice of involuntary missing persons, as stated by the human rights group.

Insufficient Disclosure

Starting in May 2024, officials have provided an electronic contact for enquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has provided only a incomplete and restricted improvement. Researchers noted|observed|commented on