At Least 98 Palestinian Detainees Have Perished in Israeli Custody Since October 2023, Statistics from Israel Shows

Based on data released by Israel, at least 98 detainees from Palestine have died while detained beginning in October 2023. A human rights group based in Israel has reported that the actual number is likely substantially larger, because of hundreds of disappeared people originating in Gaza.

Study Results

A new investigation recorded fatalities resulting from brutality, medical neglect, and starvation. Analysts used official data requests, autopsy findings, and discussions with lawyers, advocates, relatives, and observers.

Government bodies provided comprehensive statistics solely covering the initial 240 days of the war. During this time, reported numbers indicate an unprecedented death toll among Palestinian prisoners, averaging one death once every four-day period.

Updated Statistics

The military most recently revised records on deaths in detention for May 2024, and detention administration in September 2024. Investigators discovered a further 35 casualties in confinement following these periods and validated them with Israeli authorities.

Although the total number of casualties recorded being significantly higher than earlier projections, it probably omits the full scale of Palestinian casualties, according to the director of the detainee affairs unit.

“While we are offering documentation for a larger total of deaths than once estimated, this is not the entire story,” he said. “We are confident that there are yet people who perished in custody that we have not identified.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Classified government records shows that the vast majority of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who died in prison were non-combatants, per a parallel investigation.

By May of 2024, a armed services record following all combatants in Gaza, a roster of in excess of 47,000 named individuals, listed merely 21 deaths in detention. By that point, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had perished in jail.

Prison Situation

Assault, abuse, and further cruelty of Palestinian individuals has become routine across Israel’s prison network over two years of war. Top government figures have openly admitted inadequate food and an below-ground detention center confining Palestinians who are kept in darkness.

Present and past detainees and insiders from the defense forces have uniformly asserted widespread breaches of international law.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The organized mistreatment was accompanied by a disturbing rise in deaths registered across at least 12 detention centers in Israel. During the previous decade before the conflict, there were on average two or three deaths a year.

“This isn’t merely an isolated incident sporadically. It is institutional and it is expected to endure,” a representative said, in part since there is a climate of near total impunity for fatalities and maltreatment of Palestinian individuals.

Merely one incident of attacking inmates has reached litigation, with the military personnel sentenced to 210 days. An effort to try other suspects over a vicious assault involving abuse resulted in political demonstrations and the detention of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the accused individuals now insisting that allegations against them be withdrawn.

Lack of Accountability

“In spite of this large quantity of casualties, over two years no one has faced arrest,” the official said. “There have been no prosecutions over any fatality.

“While these policies continue to be enforced, all Palestinian detainees in custody is at peril, including the those in good health, also the young ones who have no medical issues.”

High-Profile Cases

Certain fatalities in confinement have been widely reported, such as a senior healthcare leader who died in confinement after four months in custody.

A prisoner incarcerated with the deceased reported that he was led to the courtyard by correctional officers immediately preceding his death, clearly wounded and exposed from the hips downward. His body remains unreleased to Gaza.

Other prisoners who lost their lives in confinement by Israeli authorities are unidentified. Correctional authorities and military provided researchers with the total of deaths in custody, and limited other details including the location where they perished, but excluding the prisoners’ names.

Documentation Problems

For 21 instances, mostly individuals from Gaza, analysts were not able to connect the minimal data given by authorities to a fatality registered by human rights groups, via statements from freed prisoners or reporting in the press.

The inmates’ next of kin could be unaware about their relatives’ casualties as well, as Israel has made it difficult to locate Palestinian individuals it is detaining. During 210 days at the outset of the hostilities, the armed services refused to give essential data about the status of many of people detained in Gaza, practically carrying out a approach of involuntary missing persons, as stated by the rights monitoring body.

Limited Transparency

Starting in May 2024, authorities have created an email address for inquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has led to just a modest and inadequate improvement. Researchers noted|observed|commented on