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Based on information from Israel, no fewer than 98 Palestinian individuals have lost their lives while detained since October 2023. A rights monitoring body located in Israel has indicated that the true figure is likely significantly higher, as a result of many of missing detainees in Gaza.

Study Results

An updated study documented casualties attributed to brutality, medical neglect, and malnutrition. Researchers employed freedom of information requests, autopsy findings, and testimonies with legal representatives, human rights defenders, family members, and eyewitnesses.

Government bodies disclosed detailed information limited to the opening period of the hostilities. Over this period, reported numbers show an historically high casualty rate among detained Palestinians, equating to a single fatality once every four-day period.

Latest Data

Israeli defense forces last updated information on custodial deaths for May 2024, and detention administration by September 2024. Investigators identified another 35 casualties in custody after these periods and confirmed them with government bodies.

Despite the total number of deaths documented being substantially larger than other recent estimates, it probably does not reflect the entire scope of Palestinian casualties, per the head of the prisoners and detainees department.

“While we are offering documentation for a larger total of deaths than once estimated, this is not a full picture,” he explained. “We are certain that there are yet individuals who lost their lives in detention that we don’t know about.”

Civilian Deaths

Classified Israeli data indicates that the majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who perished in jail were ordinary citizens, according to a parallel investigation.

During May of 2024, a defense forces registry monitoring all combatants in Gaza, a list of more than 47,000 named individuals, recorded just 21 casualties in confinement. By that date, 65 Gazans from Gaza had perished in jail.

Detention Conditions

Assault, abuse, and other abuse of Palestinians has become routine across Israel’s jail system throughout 24 months of hostilities. Top government figures have publicly referenced inadequate food and an below-ground detention center detaining Palestinian individuals who never see daylight.

Present and past prisoners and insiders from the armed services have uniformly asserted routine infractions of human rights protocols.

Systemic Abuse

The institutionalised cruelty came with a troubling surge in casualties documented across a minimum of 12 prison sites in Israel. In the decade prior to the hostilities, there were usually several deaths a year.

“This does not represent merely an isolated incident occasionally. It is widespread and it will continue,” an official said, in part due to the fact there is a environment of near total impunity for fatalities and maltreatment of Palestinian individuals.

Merely one incident of beating prisoners has come to trial, with the soldier sentenced to seven months. An effort to prosecute other suspects over a brutal attack featuring abuse led to public rallies and the detention of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the alleged perpetrators now requesting that indictments against them are dropped.

Lack of Accountability

“Regardless of this mass number of deaths, during 24 months not one individual has been detained,” the representative said. “There exist no indictments over any killing.

“As long as these policies continue to be enforced, every Palestinian in custody is at peril, also the those in good health, also the youth who have no medical issues.”

Prominent Examples

Several casualties in confinement have been widely reported, including a senior healthcare leader who perished in detention after 120 days in confinement.

An inmate held with the deceased reported that he was led to the courtyard by guards immediately preceding his passing, obviously hurt and naked from the hips downward. His corpse remains unreleased to Gaza.

Further inmates who lost their lives in Israeli custody stay unnamed. The prison service and military provided researchers with the figure of deaths in detention, and limited additional information such as the location where they died, but excluding the inmates’ personal details.

Documentation Problems

In 21 cases, primarily detainees from Gaza, investigators were not able to connect the minimal data given by authorities to a fatality recorded by advocacy bodies, either through statements from freed prisoners or coverage in the press.

The prisoners’ relatives may not know about their relatives’ casualties either, as Israel has impeded efforts to track Palestinian individuals it is holding. During 210 days at the outset of the conflict, the defense forces declined to give basic information about the whereabouts of thousands of individuals confined in Gaza, practically enacting a policy of forced disappearance, per the advocacy organization.

Restricted Access

From May 2024, officials have provided an digital correspondence for inquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has provided only a incomplete and restricted enhancement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on