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Based on figures from Israel, at least 98 Palestinians have lost their lives while in custody starting from October 2023. A human rights group operating from Israel has reported that the real toll is probably significantly higher, due to many of unaccounted for people from Gaza.

Study Results

An updated study recorded fatalities caused by physical violence, lack of healthcare, and malnutrition. Analysts used transparency petitions, medical examiner documents, and interviews with attorneys, activists, family members, and eyewitnesses.

Israeli authorities released complete information limited to the initial 240 days of the war. Over this period, government statistics indicate an historically high casualty rate among Palestinian prisoners, equating to a single fatality each 96 hours.

Recent Figures

The military finalized information on custodial deaths for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Analysts discovered a further 35 casualties in detention following these timeframes and verified them with official sources.

Even with the total number of casualties documented being much greater than earlier projections, it almost certainly does not reflect the entire scope of Palestinian casualties, per the leader of the detainee affairs unit.

“Even though we are providing evidence for a higher number of fatalities than once estimated, this is not a full picture,” he said. “We are confident that there are yet detainees who perished in custody that we don’t know about.”

Civilian Deaths

Confidential Israeli data suggests that the vast majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who lost their lives in jail were ordinary citizens, according to a related inquiry.

In May of the current year, a military intelligence database tracking all fighters in Gaza, a list of in excess of 47,000 listed people, listed just 21 fatalities in custody. At that time, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had lost their lives in jail.

Detention Conditions

Assault, abuse, and other abuse of Palestinians has been normalised across Israel’s detention facilities during 24 months of war. High-ranking authorities have publicly acknowledged minimal sustenance and an subterranean prison detaining detainees who are kept in darkness.

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

Organized Maltreatment

The institutionalised cruelty came with a troubling surge in casualties documented across no fewer than 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. Over ten years before the hostilities, there were on average two or three casualties a year.

“This does not represent only a single occurrence sporadically. It is widespread and it will continue,” a spokesperson stated, in part since there is a culture of almost complete immunity for harming and abusing detainees.

Just one case of beating prisoners has come to trial, with the service member sentenced to seven months. A endeavor to charge other suspects over a brutal attack featuring sexual violence caused political demonstrations and the detention of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the alleged perpetrators now demanding that charges against them are dropped.

No Legal Action

“In spite of this large quantity of fatalities, during 24 months not one individual has faced arrest,” the representative said. “There have been no charges over any death.

“While these policies continue to be enforced, each Palestinian individual in detention faces risk, also the healthy ones, including the youth who have no medical issues.”

Prominent Examples

Several casualties in confinement have been widely reported, such as a senior medical chief who lost his life in confinement after 120 days in custody.

A detainee held with the individual testified that he was led to the exercise area by correctional officers just prior to his passing, visibly injured and exposed from the waist down. His body has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Further inmates who died in detention in Israel stay unnamed. Correctional authorities and military gave researchers with the total of casualties in custody, and limited other details including the location where they died, but without the inmates’ personal details.

Documentation Problems

Regarding 21 occurrences, mainly individuals from Gaza, analysts were unable to connect the limited information supplied by officials to a casualty documented by rights organisations, by means of accounts from freed prisoners or coverage in the media.

The prisoners’ relatives could be unaware about their loved ones’ deaths as well, as Israel has impeded efforts to track Palestinian individuals it is confining. Over half a year at the outset of the hostilities, the defense forces refused to give essential data about the condition of many of persons held in Gaza, practically enacting a policy of unacknowledged detention, as stated by the human rights group.

Insufficient Disclosure

Beginning last May, government bodies have established an electronic contact for requests about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has provided only a modest and inadequate enhancement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on