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Per figures provided by Israel, a minimum of 98 Palestinians have perished while in custody since October 2023. A human rights group operating from Israel has reported that the real figure is probably considerably larger, as a result of hundreds of disappeared detainees in Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation recorded deaths resulting from brutality, failure to provide medical care, and malnutrition. Researchers used official data requests, medical examiner documents, and interviews with legal representatives, human rights defenders, relatives, and witnesses.

Official sources released complete information only for the opening period of the war. Over this period, government statistics show an historically high casualty rate among detained Palestinians, equating to one death once every four-day period.

Updated Statistics

Israeli defense forces most recently revised records on detention fatalities for May 2024, and the prison service during September 2024. Analysts documented a further 35 deaths in confinement after these timeframes and validated them with Israeli authorities.

Although the overall count of fatalities recorded being much greater than earlier projections, it almost certainly fails to capture the full scale of Palestinian loss, per the head of the detainee affairs unit.

“Even though we are providing evidence for a higher number of deaths than previously reported, this is not the entire story,” he said. “We are sure that there are even now people who died in custody that we are unaware of.”

Civilian Casualties

Classified government records indicates that the majority of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who died in jail were ordinary citizens, according to a parallel inquiry.

During May of 2024, a military intelligence database monitoring all militants in Gaza, a registry of more than 47,000 identified persons, recorded merely 21 casualties in confinement. By that date, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had perished in detention.

Prison Situation

Physical violence, mistreatment, and additional maltreatment of Palestinian individuals has become routine across Israel’s prison network during 24 months of war. High-ranking authorities have publicly acknowledged minimal sustenance and an below-ground detention center holding Palestinians who never see daylight.

Current and former inmates and whistleblowers from the defense forces have uniformly asserted widespread breaches of human rights protocols.

Systemic Abuse

The organized mistreatment was accompanied by a disturbing rise in deaths registered across a minimum of 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. During the previous decade preceding the conflict, there were on average two or three fatalities a year.

“This isn’t only a single occurrence occasionally. It is systemic and it is expected to endure,” a spokesperson said, partially because there is a environment of almost complete immunity for killing and mistreating Palestinians.

Just one case of beating inmates has come to trial, with the soldier handed a punishment to 210 days. An attempt to prosecute additional individuals over a vicious assault involving sexual violence caused right-wing protests and the apprehension of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the suspects now insisting that indictments against them be dismissed.

Lack of Accountability

“Despite this large quantity of casualties, over two years no one has faced arrest,” the official stated. “There exist no prosecutions over any death.

“As long as these practices continue to be enforced, all Palestinian detainees in confinement faces risk, also the healthy ones, including the young ones who have no health problems.”

Notable Incidents

Several casualties in confinement have been high profile, such as a middle-aged healthcare leader who perished in detention after four months in custody.

A detainee incarcerated with the individual stated that he was brought to the exercise area by correctional officers just prior to his demise, visibly injured and unclothed from the hips downward. His corpse remains unreleased to Gaza.

Other prisoners who perished in confinement by Israeli authorities stay unnamed. The prison service and defense forces provided investigators with the number of casualties in confinement, and minimal additional information for example the location where they lost their lives, but not the inmates’ personal details.

Documentation Problems

For 21 instances, mostly people from Gaza, analysts were unable to match the limited information provided by government bodies to a death recorded by advocacy bodies, via statements from released detainees or reporting in the news outlets.

The prisoners’ relatives could be unaware about their relatives’ casualties also, as Israel has created obstacles to monitor Palestinian individuals it is holding. During 210 days at the start of the hostilities, the defense forces refused to give basic information about the whereabouts of thousands of people held in Gaza, in effect carrying out a policy of involuntary missing persons, according to the advocacy organization.

Limited Transparency

From May 2024, government bodies have established an digital correspondence for requests about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited improvement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on