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Based on figures from Israel, at least 98 detainees from Palestine have lost their lives while detained beginning in October 2023. A rights monitoring body operating from Israel has indicated that the true toll is probably considerably higher, because of many of missing detainees originating in Gaza.

Report Findings

A recent report tracked fatalities attributed to assault, failure to provide medical care, and malnutrition. Researchers used official data requests, autopsy findings, and testimonies with lawyers, advocates, relatives, and eyewitnesses.

Government bodies provided detailed information solely covering the first eight months of the conflict. Throughout these months, reported numbers indicate an historically high fatality rate among Palestinian prisoners, averaging a life lost every four days.

Updated Statistics

The military last updated information on custodial deaths for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Researchers identified another 35 fatalities in custody following these dates and verified them with government bodies.

Although the overall count of deaths recorded being much greater than previous assessments, it likely does not reflect the entire scope of Palestinian casualties, per the director of the prisoner monitoring division.

“Even though we are offering documentation for a higher number of casualties than once estimated, this is not the entire story,” he said. “We are sure that there are yet detainees who died in confinement that we are unaware of.”

Civilian Casualties

Classified Israeli data indicates that the majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who died in jail were ordinary citizens, per a simultaneous examination.

During May of the current year, a armed services record tracking all combatants in Gaza, a list of over 47,000 identified persons, documented just 21 casualties in detention. At that time, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had perished in jail.

Custodial Environment

Assault, abuse, and other abuse of Palestinian individuals has become routine across Israel’s jail system over two years of hostilities. Top government figures have publicly acknowledged minimal sustenance and an below-ground detention center detaining detainees who never see daylight.

Existing and previous detainees and whistleblowers from the armed services have collectively claimed routine infractions of human rights protocols.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The organized mistreatment came with a troubling surge in casualties documented across no fewer than 12 detention centers in Israel. During the previous decade before the conflict, there were usually two or three deaths a year.

“This does not represent only a single occurrence here and there. It is institutional and it is likely to persist,” an official stated, partially since there is a climate of near total impunity for killing and mistreating Palestinian individuals.

Only a single instance of attacking inmates has reached litigation, with the soldier handed a punishment to seven months. An effort to prosecute other suspects over a vicious assault involving abuse led to right-wing protests and the apprehension of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the suspects now requesting that allegations against them be dismissed.

No Legal Action

“In spite of this mass number of casualties, during 24 months no one has been arrested,” the official said. “There have been no charges over any killing.

“While these practices continue to be enforced, each Palestinian individual in detention faces risk, also the healthy ones, also the youth who have no underlying conditions.”

Prominent Examples

Several casualties in confinement have been widely reported, such as a senior healthcare leader who died in detention after 120 days in detention.

An inmate detained alongside the individual testified that he was brought to the yard by guards just prior to his demise, clearly wounded and exposed from the lower body. His body has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Further inmates who died in detention in Israel stay unnamed. Correctional authorities and armed services supplied analysts with the total of casualties in detention, and limited further data for example the site where they lost their lives, but not the detainees’ identities.

Documentation Problems

In 21 cases, primarily individuals from Gaza, analysts could not to match the few details supplied by government bodies to a death registered by human rights groups, via statements from former inmates or coverage in the news outlets.

The prisoners’ relatives might not have learned about their loved ones’ deaths either, as Israel has made it difficult to track detainees it is detaining. For seven months at the start of the hostilities, the Israeli military would not provide to supply basic information about the status of many of persons detained in Gaza, effectively enacting a practice of forced disappearance, according to the rights monitoring body.

Limited Transparency

Beginning last May, officials have provided an email address for enquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has led to just a modest and inadequate betterment. Researchers noted|observed|commented on