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Based on data provided by Israel, no fewer than 98 Palestinian individuals have lost their lives during detention since October 2023. A human rights group based in Israel has indicated that the real toll is almost certainly substantially larger, because of many of unaccounted for individuals from Gaza.

Report Findings

An updated study tracked deaths caused by assault, lack of healthcare, and starvation. Researchers utilized official data requests, autopsy findings, and discussions with legal representatives, advocates, family members, and observers.

Government bodies released detailed data only for the first eight months of the hostilities. Over this period, government statistics show an record death toll among detained Palestinians, equating to one death once every four-day period.

Latest Data

The military finalized data on detention fatalities for May 2024, and the prison service in September 2024. Analysts documented another 35 deaths in detention after these periods and validated them with official sources.

Even with the total number of casualties documented being substantially larger than other recent estimates, it likely fails to capture the entire scope of Palestinian casualties, according to the head of the detainee affairs unit.

“While we are presenting proof for a larger total of casualties than once estimated, this is an incomplete account,” he explained. “We are sure that there are still individuals who died in confinement that we don’t know about.”

Civilian Deaths

Restricted government records shows that the majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who died in jail were non-combatants, according to a simultaneous examination.

By May of this year, a defense forces registry tracking all fighters in Gaza, a roster of in excess of 47,000 listed people, recorded only 21 fatalities in detention. By that date, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had died in jail.

Detention Conditions

Assault, mistreatment, and other abuse of detainees from Palestine is now standard practice across Israel’s detention facilities over the duration of war. High-ranking authorities have publicly acknowledged inadequate food and an below-ground detention center confining Palestinians who are denied sunlight.

Current and former detainees and whistleblowers from the Israeli military have all alleged widespread breaches of human rights protocols.

Systemic Abuse

The institutionalised cruelty occurred alongside a troubling surge in deaths documented across a minimum of 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. Over ten years preceding the war, there were usually two or three deaths a year.

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

Only a single instance of beating detainees has come to trial, with the military personnel given a penalty to 210 days. An attempt to try others over a vicious assault including sexual violence resulted in right-wing protests and the apprehension of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the alleged perpetrators now demanding that allegations against them be dismissed.

Lack of Accountability

“Regardless of this large quantity of deaths, during 24 months not one individual has faced arrest,” the spokesperson noted. “There have been no prosecutions over any death.

“While these measures continue to be enforced, all Palestinian detainees in confinement faces risk, even the those in good health, including the young ones who have no underlying conditions.”

Prominent Examples

Certain fatalities in detention have been widely reported, including a middle-aged hospital director who died in detention after four months in custody.

A detainee detained alongside the individual reported that he was brought to the exercise area by guards just prior to his demise, visibly injured and naked from the lower body. His body has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Additional detainees who lost their lives in Israeli custody remain anonymous. Correctional authorities and armed services provided investigators with the total of deaths in custody, and limited other details for example the facility where they lost their lives, but excluding the inmates’ personal details.

Recognition Difficulties

Regarding 21 occurrences, primarily detainees from Gaza, investigators were not able to correlate the few details given by authorities to a fatality registered by human rights groups, via testimony from released detainees or accounts in the media.

The inmates’ next of kin could be unaware about their relatives’ casualties as well, as Israel has impeded efforts to locate Palestinian individuals it is detaining. For seven months at the outset of the conflict, the Israeli military declined to give basic information about the status of thousands of people held in Gaza, effectively implementing a approach of involuntary missing persons, per the human rights group.

Limited Transparency

Starting in May 2024, government bodies have provided an digital correspondence for requests about detainees from Gaza, but this has resulted in merely a partial and limited improvement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on