🔗 Share this article

Based on information from Israel, a minimum of 98 Palestinian individuals have lost their lives during detention since October 2023. An advocacy organization located in Israel has reported that the real figure is likely significantly greater, because of many of disappeared people in Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation recorded fatalities attributed to physical violence, medical neglect, and malnutrition. Researchers utilized official data requests, forensic reports, and discussions with legal representatives, activists, next of kin, and witnesses.

Official sources disclosed detailed statistics solely covering the opening period of the hostilities. During this time, government statistics indicate an unprecedented casualty rate among Palestinian prisoners, averaging a single fatality each 96 hours.

Recent Figures

The military finalized information on custodial deaths for May 2024, and detention administration by September 2024. Investigators identified an additional 35 fatalities in custody subsequent to these timeframes and validated them with Israeli authorities.

Although the total number of casualties documented being much greater than earlier projections, it probably fails to capture the complete extent of losses among Palestinians, according to the head of the detainee affairs unit.

“While we are providing evidence for a higher number of fatalities than once estimated, this is not a full picture,” he stated. “We are certain that there are yet individuals who perished in custody that we are unaware of.”

Civilian Deaths

Restricted Israeli data suggests that the vast majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who lost their lives in detention were civilians, based on a parallel inquiry.

During May of the current year, a military intelligence database following all combatants in Gaza, a list of more than 47,000 listed people, recorded merely 21 casualties in detention. By that date, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had died in prison.

Prison Situation

Assault, abuse, and other abuse of Palestinian individuals is now standard practice across Israel’s jail system throughout 24 months of hostilities. High-ranking authorities have publicly acknowledged minimal sustenance and an below-ground detention center detaining detainees who never see daylight.

Current and former detainees and insiders from the defense forces have all alleged widespread breaches of global standards.

Systemic Abuse

The organized mistreatment came with a alarming increase in casualties recorded across a minimum of 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. During the previous decade before the hostilities, there were typically a couple fatalities a year.

“This is not only a single occurrence here and there. It is institutional and it is likely to persist,” a spokesperson stated, partially because there is a climate of almost complete immunity for harming and abusing Palestinians.

Just one case of assaulting prisoners has proceeded to court, with the military personnel sentenced to seven months. A endeavor to try others over a vicious assault including assault caused political demonstrations and the detention of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the accused individuals now insisting that indictments against them be dismissed.

Absence of Consequences

“Regardless of this significant total of fatalities, over two years not one individual has faced arrest,” the official noted. “There have been no prosecutions over any death.

“While these policies remain in effect, each Palestinian individual in detention is at peril, even the physically well individuals, also the young ones who have no underlying conditions.”

Prominent Examples

Several casualties in custody have been high profile, including a 50-year-old healthcare leader who died in prison after 120 days in confinement.

A prisoner incarcerated with the deceased reported that he was taken to the exercise area by correctional officers shortly before his demise, visibly injured and naked from the hips downward. His body has not been returned to Gaza.

Other prisoners who died in Israeli custody remain anonymous. Detention administrators and defense forces provided analysts with the total of fatalities in detention, and minimal additional information including the location where they lost their lives, but excluding the inmates’ personal details.

Identification Challenges

In 21 cases, primarily people from Gaza, investigators were unable to match the limited information given by authorities to a casualty registered by human rights groups, via accounts from released detainees or accounts in the media.

The inmates’ next of kin could be unaware about their relatives’ casualties either, as Israel has made it difficult to monitor Palestinian individuals it is detaining. During 210 days at the outset of the hostilities, the armed services declined to give basic information about the status of many of persons detained in Gaza, effectively implementing a practice of forced disappearance, according to the human rights group.

Restricted Access

From May 2024, officials have established an electronic contact for inquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has provided only a modest and inadequate betterment. Analysts noted|observed|commented on