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Per information provided by Israel, at least 98 Palestinian individuals have perished while detained starting from October 2023. An advocacy organization based in Israel has indicated that the true figure is likely significantly larger, because of many of unaccounted for individuals originating in Gaza.

Investigation Outcomes

A new investigation documented fatalities attributed to brutality, medical neglect, and starvation. Investigators used freedom of information requests, forensic reports, and discussions with attorneys, activists, next of kin, and witnesses.

Israeli authorities released detailed data only for the opening period of the conflict. During this time, reported numbers reveal an unprecedented death toll among Palestinian prisoners, amounting to one death once every four-day period.

Latest Data

Israeli defense forces finalized information on deaths in detention for May 2024, and the prison service by September 2024. Investigators identified an additional 35 fatalities in custody following these timeframes and verified them with government bodies.

Despite the aggregate figure of casualties recorded being significantly higher than previous assessments, it probably does not reflect the complete extent of Palestinian loss, per the director of the prisoners and detainees department.

“Although we are presenting proof for a greater figure of casualties than earlier indicated, this is not the entire story,” he stated. “We are confident that there are still people who lost their lives in custody that we are unaware of.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Confidential Israeli data shows that the largest portion of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who died in detention were non-combatants, per a parallel investigation.

In May of 2024, a defense forces registry following all militants in Gaza, a registry of in excess of 47,000 identified persons, documented only 21 fatalities in confinement. By that point, 65 Gazans from Gaza had lost their lives in prison.

Detention Conditions

Brutality, mistreatment, and other abuse of Palestinians has become routine across Israel’s prison network during two years of conflict. Senior officials have publicly acknowledged starvation rations and an subterranean prison detaining Palestinians who never see daylight.

Current and former prisoners and whistleblowers from the armed services have collectively claimed systemic violations of human rights protocols.

Systemic Abuse

The systematic abuse occurred alongside a troubling surge in casualties recorded across at least 12 detention centers in Israel. In the decade prior to the hostilities, there were on average several deaths a year.

“This does not represent merely an isolated incident here and there. It is systemic and it will continue,” a representative said, in part because there is a climate of near total impunity for fatalities and maltreatment of Palestinians.

Merely one incident of assaulting prisoners has come to trial, with the soldier handed a punishment to half a year. An effort to prosecute others over a severe beating featuring abuse caused right-wing protests and the detention of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the alleged perpetrators now demanding that charges against them are dropped.

Lack of Accountability

“Despite this significant total of casualties, over two years no one has been detained,” the official noted. “There exist no prosecutions over any death.

“While these practices continue to be enforced, all Palestinian detainees in confinement is at peril, also the healthy ones, also the youth who have no underlying conditions.”

Notable Incidents

Several casualties in custody have been widely reported, for instance a senior medical chief who died in detention after a third of a year in detention.

An inmate detained alongside the deceased testified that he was led to the courtyard by guards shortly before his demise, obviously hurt and exposed from the lower body. His corpse remains unreleased to Gaza.

Other prisoners who died in Israeli custody are unidentified. Correctional authorities and military supplied researchers with the number of casualties in custody, and minimal additional information including the location where they perished, but excluding the prisoners’ names.

Identification Challenges

For 21 instances, mostly detainees from Gaza, analysts could not to connect the few details provided by officials to a death registered by human rights groups, either through testimony from former inmates or reporting in the media.

The detainees’ families may not know about their relatives’ casualties as well, as Israel has impeded efforts to track detainees it is confining. During 210 days at the beginning of the conflict, the Israeli military refused to give fundamental details about the status of thousands of people held in Gaza, practically implementing a approach of involuntary missing persons, per the rights monitoring body.

Insufficient Disclosure

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