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Based on information from Israel, a minimum of 98 Palestinians have perished during detention since October 2023. A human rights group based in Israel has stated that the true number is almost certainly substantially higher, due to many of missing individuals from Gaza.

Study Results

A new investigation tracked deaths caused by physical violence, lack of healthcare, and starvation. Investigators employed freedom of information requests, medical examiner documents, and testimonies with attorneys, human rights defenders, family members, and witnesses.

Government bodies disclosed complete information only for the first eight months of the war. During this time, official figures indicate an unprecedented death toll among Palestinian prisoners, amounting to a single fatality each 96 hours.

Recent Figures

The military last updated data on deaths in detention for May 2024, and the prison service during September 2024. Investigators discovered an additional 35 casualties in custody after these dates and validated them with government bodies.

Even with the overall count of deaths charted being significantly higher than previous assessments, it likely fails to capture the entire scope of Palestinian loss, per the director of the prisoner monitoring division.

“Although we are presenting proof for a higher number of deaths than earlier indicated, this is not a full picture,” he stated. “We are certain that there are even now individuals who died in detention that we are unaware of.”

Civilian Deaths

Classified government records shows that the vast majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who died in jail were civilians, according to a parallel investigation.

In May of 2024, a armed services record tracking all militants in Gaza, a list of over 47,000 listed people, documented only 21 fatalities in custody. By that date, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had perished in jail.

Custodial Environment

Physical violence, mistreatment, and additional maltreatment of Palestinian individuals has been normalised across Israel’s detention facilities throughout 24 months of hostilities. High-ranking authorities have publicly acknowledged minimal sustenance and an below-ground detention center detaining Palestinian individuals who never see daylight.

Existing and previous prisoners and informants from the Israeli military have uniformly asserted routine infractions of global standards.

Systemic Abuse

The organized mistreatment came with a troubling surge in casualties registered across at least 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. Over ten years prior to the hostilities, there were usually a couple fatalities a year.

“This isn’t just an individual case sporadically. It is institutional and it will continue,” a representative commented, partly due to the fact there is a culture of virtual exemption from consequences for killing and mistreating Palestinian individuals.

Merely one incident of beating prisoners has come to trial, with the military personnel handed a punishment to seven months. An attempt to charge others over a brutal attack including sexual violence resulted in right-wing protests and the detention of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the alleged perpetrators now requesting that charges against them are dropped.

No Legal Action

“Despite this mass number of deaths, during 24 months no one has faced arrest,” the spokesperson said. “There exist no indictments over any death.

“As long as these practices continue to be enforced, all Palestinian detainees in detention faces risk, even the physically well individuals, even the young ones who have no medical issues.”

Prominent Examples

Certain fatalities in confinement have been high profile, including a senior hospital director who perished in detention after a third of a year in custody.

An inmate incarcerated with the victim testified that he was brought to the yard by correctional officers immediately preceding his passing, obviously hurt and exposed from the hips downward. His remains remains unreleased to Gaza.

Additional detainees who lost their lives in detention in Israel stay unnamed. Correctional authorities and defense forces gave researchers with the figure of fatalities in custody, and basic additional information for example the facility where they perished, but excluding the detainees’ identities.

Recognition Difficulties

For 21 instances, mainly people from Gaza, investigators were unable to connect the few details given by officials to a casualty recorded by rights organisations, via testimony from released detainees or coverage in the media.

The prisoners’ relatives may not know about their family members’ fatalities either, as Israel has created obstacles to track Palestinians it is confining. For seven months at the start of the hostilities, the Israeli military declined to provide essential data about the condition of many of individuals detained in Gaza, practically enacting a practice of unacknowledged detention, according to the rights monitoring body.

Limited Transparency

Beginning last May, authorities have provided an electronic contact for requests about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has led to just a incomplete and restricted betterment. Researchers noted|observed|commented on