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According to figures from Israel, a minimum of 98 detainees from Palestine have lost their lives during detention since October 2023. An advocacy organization operating from Israel has stated that the actual figure is likely substantially greater, due to many of missing detainees in Gaza.

Investigation Outcomes

A new investigation documented casualties resulting from physical violence, failure to provide medical care, and starvation. Investigators utilized official data requests, autopsy findings, and interviews with legal representatives, advocates, next of kin, and eyewitnesses.

Government bodies disclosed detailed statistics only for the first eight months of the conflict. During this time, government statistics reveal an historically high casualty rate among Palestinian detainees, amounting to a single fatality every four days.

Latest Data

The military most recently revised records on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities during September 2024. Investigators discovered a further 35 fatalities in custody after these periods and verified them with Israeli authorities.

Although the aggregate figure of fatalities charted being significantly higher than previous assessments, it almost certainly omits the full scale of Palestinian casualties, per the head of the detainee affairs unit.

“Although we are providing evidence for a larger total of deaths than previously reported, this is not a full picture,” he explained. “We are certain that there are yet individuals who died in confinement that we don’t know about.”

Civilian Deaths

Restricted government records indicates that the largest portion of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who perished in jail were ordinary citizens, per a parallel investigation.

In May of the current year, a defense forces registry tracking all combatants in Gaza, a registry of over 47,000 identified persons, documented only 21 deaths in custody. By that date, 65 Gazans from Gaza had perished in jail.

Custodial Environment

Assault, torture, and additional maltreatment of detainees from Palestine has been normalised across Israel’s detention facilities over the duration of conflict. Top government figures have openly admitted inadequate food and an underground jail holding detainees who are kept in darkness.

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

Organized Maltreatment

The systematic abuse was accompanied by a alarming increase in casualties recorded across at least 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. During the previous decade preceding the conflict, there were on average a couple fatalities a year.

“This is not only a single occurrence here and there. It is institutional and it is likely to persist,” an official commented, partially since there is a climate of near total impunity for fatalities and maltreatment of detainees.

Merely one incident of attacking prisoners has reached litigation, with the soldier given a penalty to 210 days. An attempt to try additional individuals over a brutal attack involving abuse resulted in public rallies and the apprehension of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the accused individuals now requesting that allegations against them be withdrawn.

No Legal Action

“In spite of this significant total of fatalities, over two years not one individual has been arrested,” the spokesperson stated. “There have been no indictments over any death.

“During the time these policies remain in effect, each Palestinian individual in custody is in danger, even the those in good health, even the youth who have no underlying conditions.”

Prominent Examples

Certain fatalities in custody have been widely reported, including a middle-aged medical chief who perished in confinement after four months in custody.

A prisoner held with the victim testified that he was brought to the yard by guards shortly before his passing, obviously hurt and naked from the waist down. His corpse has not been returned to Gaza.

Additional detainees who died in detention in Israel remain anonymous. The prison service and defense forces provided investigators with the number of deaths in confinement, and minimal additional information such as the site where they died, but excluding the detainees’ identities.

Identification Challenges

In 21 cases, primarily detainees from Gaza, analysts could not to connect the minimal data provided by authorities to a death registered by advocacy bodies, either through statements from former inmates or reporting in the press.

The inmates’ next of kin may not know about their relatives’ casualties either, as Israel has made it difficult to monitor Palestinian individuals it is confining. For seven months at the start of the conflict, the armed services declined to give basic information about the whereabouts of many of individuals detained in Gaza, effectively carrying out a practice of unacknowledged detention, according to the rights monitoring body.

Restricted Access

Starting in May 2024, authorities have created an email address for inquiries about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited betterment. Researchers noted|observed|commented on