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According to information provided by Israel, a minimum of 98 Palestinian individuals have died while detained since October 2023. A rights monitoring body located in Israel has indicated that the actual number is probably considerably larger, as a result of many of disappeared detainees originating in Gaza.

Study Results

A new investigation recorded casualties caused by physical violence, failure to provide medical care, and starvation. Investigators used official data requests, forensic reports, and testimonies with legal representatives, advocates, next of kin, and eyewitnesses.

Official sources provided complete statistics solely covering the initial 240 days of the war. Over this period, official figures indicate an record fatality rate among detained Palestinians, averaging a life lost once every four-day period.

Recent Figures

Israeli defense forces finalized records on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities during September 2024. Researchers discovered another 35 fatalities in confinement following these periods and confirmed them with Israeli authorities.

Although the total number of casualties charted being much greater than earlier projections, it probably fails to capture the complete extent of Palestinian casualties, per the head of the prisoner monitoring division.

“Although we are providing evidence for a higher number of casualties than once estimated, this is not the entire story,” he stated. “We are certain that there are yet individuals who perished in custody that we are unaware of.”

Civilian Deaths

Restricted government records indicates that the largest portion of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who died in jail were non-combatants, based on a simultaneous examination.

During May of the current year, a defense forces registry following all combatants in Gaza, a list of more than 47,000 named individuals, recorded just 21 casualties in custody. At that time, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had died in jail.

Detention Conditions

Assault, torture, and additional maltreatment of detainees from Palestine has become routine across Israel’s detention facilities during the duration of hostilities. Senior officials have openly admitted inadequate food and an subterranean prison detaining Palestinian individuals who are denied sunlight.

Current and former inmates and whistleblowers from the defense forces have collectively claimed routine infractions of international law.

Organized Maltreatment

The organized mistreatment came with a alarming increase in casualties recorded across no fewer than 12 prison sites in Israel. During the previous decade before the war, there were on average several fatalities a year.

“This is not just an individual case here and there. It is institutional and it will continue,” a spokesperson said, partially since there is a culture of almost complete immunity for killing and mistreating detainees.

Just one case of beating prisoners has reached litigation, with the soldier handed a punishment to half a year. An effort to try additional individuals over a brutal attack including sexual violence caused political demonstrations and the arrest of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the alleged perpetrators now insisting that indictments against them be dismissed.

Lack of Accountability

“Despite this mass number of fatalities, during 24 months no one has been arrested,” the spokesperson said. “There are no prosecutions over any death.

“As long as these policies continue to be enforced, every Palestinian in confinement is at peril, including the healthy ones, also the juveniles who have no medical issues.”

Prominent Examples

Some deaths in detention have been publicly known, including a 50-year-old healthcare leader who lost his life in confinement after 120 days in confinement.

A detainee incarcerated with the deceased testified that he was brought to the yard by guards just prior to his death, visibly injured and naked from the lower body. His corpse has not been returned to Gaza.

Further inmates who lost their lives in detention in Israel remain anonymous. The prison service and defense forces gave analysts with the number of fatalities in custody, and limited additional information such as the site where they perished, but excluding the detainees’ identities.

Identification Challenges

For 21 instances, mostly detainees from Gaza, researchers could not to connect the limited information supplied by government bodies to a death recorded by advocacy bodies, by means of testimony from former inmates or accounts in the news outlets.

The detainees’ families may not know about their loved ones’ deaths as well, as Israel has created obstacles to locate Palestinians it is detaining. For seven months at the outset of the conflict, the armed services declined to provide basic information about the condition of thousands of persons confined in Gaza, in effect enacting a approach of unacknowledged detention, as stated by the rights monitoring body.

Limited Transparency

Starting in May 2024, officials have established an digital correspondence for inquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has resulted in merely a partial and limited betterment. Investigators noted|observed|commented on