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Based on figures released by Israel, at least 98 detainees from Palestine have died while in custody since October 2023. An advocacy organization based in Israel has stated that the actual toll is almost certainly significantly higher, because of numerous of missing people originating in Gaza.

Report Findings

A recent report recorded casualties attributed to brutality, lack of healthcare, and malnutrition. Investigators utilized transparency petitions, autopsy findings, and testimonies with legal representatives, activists, relatives, and observers.

Israeli authorities provided detailed information solely covering the initial 240 days of the conflict. Throughout these months, official figures indicate an record casualty rate among detained Palestinians, amounting to a single fatality once every four-day period.

Updated Statistics

Israeli defense forces last updated records on deaths in detention for May 2024, and detention administration in September 2024. Analysts documented a further 35 deaths in detention after these dates and validated them with government bodies.

Despite the overall count of casualties charted being substantially larger than other recent estimates, it probably omits the full scale of losses among Palestinians, per the leader of the prisoners and detainees department.

“While we are providing evidence for a higher number of fatalities than earlier indicated, this is an incomplete account,” he stated. “We are sure that there are yet detainees who died in detention that we have not identified.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Classified official information suggests that the largest portion of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who lost their lives in prison were non-combatants, based on a related investigation.

During May of 2024, a defense forces registry tracking all fighters in Gaza, a list of more than 47,000 listed people, recorded just 21 fatalities in confinement. By that date, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had died in detention.

Detention Conditions

Physical violence, mistreatment, and additional maltreatment of Palestinians has become routine across Israel’s jail system over 24 months of war. High-ranking authorities have publicly referenced starvation rations and an below-ground detention center confining Palestinians who never see daylight.

Current and former inmates and whistleblowers from the Israeli military have collectively claimed routine infractions of international law.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The institutionalised cruelty occurred alongside a disturbing rise in deaths documented across a minimum of 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. Over ten years preceding the war, there were usually several deaths a year.

“This does not represent just an individual case here and there. It is institutional and it will continue,” a representative commented, in part due to the fact there is a climate of almost complete immunity for fatalities and maltreatment of Palestinians.

Merely one incident of assaulting inmates has proceeded to court, with the military personnel handed a punishment to half a year. An attempt to prosecute others over a severe beating involving sexual violence caused political demonstrations and the detention of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the accused individuals now requesting that allegations against them be dismissed.

Lack of Accountability

“In spite of this significant total of fatalities, throughout the conflict no one has been arrested,” the official said. “There are no prosecutions over any fatality.

“While these measures are being applied, every Palestinian in detention faces risk, even the physically well individuals, including the young ones who have no underlying conditions.”

Notable Incidents

Several casualties in detention have been widely reported, such as a senior hospital director who lost his life in prison after a third of a year in confinement.

A prisoner incarcerated with the individual reported that he was led to the yard by prison staff just prior to his passing, obviously hurt and unclothed from the lower body. His corpse has not been returned to Gaza.

Additional detainees who perished in detention in Israel stay unnamed. Correctional authorities and armed services supplied analysts with the total of deaths in detention, and minimal further data including the facility where they died, but excluding the detainees’ identities.

Identification Challenges

For 21 instances, primarily individuals from Gaza, analysts were unable to correlate the limited information provided by officials to a fatality registered by advocacy bodies, via statements from released detainees or reporting in the news outlets.

The detainees’ families may not know about their relatives’ casualties either, as Israel has created obstacles to locate Palestinian individuals it is detaining. For seven months at the beginning of the conflict, the armed services declined to give fundamental details about the condition of numerous of individuals confined in Gaza, practically implementing a practice of involuntary missing persons, according to the human rights group.

Restricted Access

From May 2024, government bodies have provided an electronic contact for enquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has led to just a incomplete and restricted enhancement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on