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Based on figures released by Israel, a minimum of 98 Palestinians have perished while in custody beginning in October 2023. A rights monitoring body operating from Israel has indicated that the true toll is likely substantially larger, as a result of hundreds of missing people in Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation documented fatalities resulting from brutality, failure to provide medical care, and malnutrition. Researchers used freedom of information requests, autopsy findings, and interviews with legal representatives, advocates, relatives, and observers.

Government bodies released detailed information solely covering the opening period of the war. Throughout these months, government statistics indicate an record fatality rate among detained Palestinians, equating to one death once every four-day period.

Latest Data

Israeli defense forces most recently revised records on detention fatalities for May 2024, and the prison service in September 2024. Researchers discovered a further 35 deaths in confinement subsequent to these dates and validated them with Israeli authorities.

Despite the overall count of deaths recorded being much greater than previous assessments, it almost certainly omits the entire scope of losses among Palestinians, per the head of the prisoners and detainees department.

“Even though we are providing evidence for a greater figure of fatalities than previously reported, this is not a full picture,” he explained. “We are sure that there are even now individuals who died in confinement that we don’t know about.”

Civilian Casualties

Restricted government records suggests that the largest portion of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who lost their lives in detention were civilians, based on a related investigation.

By May of this year, a defense forces registry monitoring all combatants in Gaza, a roster of over 47,000 listed people, listed just 21 fatalities in detention. By that point, 65 Gazans from Gaza had perished in prison.

Custodial Environment

Assault, mistreatment, and additional maltreatment of detainees from Palestine is now standard practice across Israel’s detention facilities throughout the duration of war. Senior officials have publicly referenced minimal sustenance and an underground jail confining Palestinian individuals who are denied sunlight.

Current and former inmates and informants from the Israeli military have all alleged systemic violations of global standards.

Organized Maltreatment

The organized mistreatment occurred alongside a alarming increase in deaths recorded across a minimum of 12 prison sites in Israel. Over ten years preceding the hostilities, there were on average a couple casualties a year.

“This does not represent only a single occurrence here and there. It is institutional and it is expected to endure,” an official said, in part due to the fact there is a climate of near total impunity for harming and abusing detainees.

Only a single instance of assaulting detainees has proceeded to court, with the military personnel sentenced to 210 days. A endeavor to charge others over a brutal attack involving sexual violence resulted in public rallies and the apprehension of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the alleged perpetrators now demanding that charges against them be dismissed.

Absence of Consequences

“Regardless of this mass number of deaths, over two years no one has faced arrest,” the official stated. “There are no charges over any killing.

“As long as these practices remain in effect, each Palestinian individual in detention is at peril, even the those in good health, also the young ones who have no medical issues.”

High-Profile Cases

Some deaths in custody have been publicly known, including a 50-year-old medical chief who died in prison after 120 days in confinement.

A detainee held with the individual reported that he was led to the courtyard by prison staff shortly before his death, clearly wounded and naked from the hips downward. His corpse has not been returned to Gaza.

Further inmates who lost their lives in confinement by Israeli authorities stay unnamed. Detention administrators and armed services provided investigators with the total of casualties in detention, and minimal further data including the location where they perished, but not the prisoners’ names.

Documentation Problems

For 21 instances, primarily individuals from Gaza, researchers were not able to correlate the few details given by officials to a fatality documented by rights organisations, either through statements from released detainees or coverage in the media.

The prisoners’ relatives may not know about their relatives’ casualties also, as Israel has created obstacles to locate Palestinian individuals it is confining. For seven months at the outset of the war, the Israeli military would not provide to give basic information about the whereabouts of many of people held in Gaza, in effect implementing a policy of forced disappearance, according to the advocacy organization.

Insufficient Disclosure

Starting in May 2024, authorities have provided an digital correspondence for inquiries about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has led to just a modest and inadequate betterment. Investigators noted|observed|commented on