At Least 98 Palestinians Have Perished in Israeli Custody Beginning in October 2023, Israeli Data Reveals

Based on data provided by Israel, at least 98 Palestinians have lost their lives while in custody beginning in October 2023. A rights monitoring body located in Israel has indicated that the real figure is likely substantially higher, as a result of hundreds of missing detainees from Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation tracked fatalities caused by assault, medical neglect, and starvation. Investigators used transparency petitions, autopsy findings, and discussions with attorneys, human rights defenders, family members, and observers.

Israeli authorities provided detailed information only for the initial 240 days of the hostilities. During this time, government statistics reveal an record death toll among detained Palestinians, equating to one death every four days.

Recent Figures

Official armed forces last updated information on deaths in detention for May 2024, and detention administration by September 2024. Researchers discovered a further 35 deaths in custody after these periods and validated them with official sources.

Even with the aggregate figure of casualties charted being much greater than earlier projections, it likely omits the entire scope of losses among Palestinians, according to the leader of the prisoners and detainees department.

“Even though we are providing evidence for a larger total of fatalities than once estimated, this is not the entire story,” he said. “We are certain that there are still individuals who lost their lives in confinement that we have not identified.”

Civilian Casualties

Confidential official information suggests that the vast majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who perished in prison were non-combatants, according to a related inquiry.

In May of this year, a military intelligence database following all combatants in Gaza, a registry of in excess of 47,000 named individuals, documented just 21 fatalities in confinement. By that date, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had died in detention.

Prison Situation

Assault, torture, and additional maltreatment of Palestinian individuals has been normalised across Israel’s detention facilities over two years of hostilities. Top government figures have publicly referenced minimal sustenance and an below-ground detention center detaining Palestinian individuals who are kept in darkness.

Present and past inmates and informants from the defense forces have collectively claimed systemic violations of human rights protocols.

Organized Maltreatment

The systematic abuse occurred alongside a disturbing rise in deaths documented across no fewer than 12 prison sites in Israel. During the previous decade preceding the hostilities, there were on average several fatalities a year.

“This does not represent just an individual case here and there. It is institutional and it will continue,” a representative stated, in part since there is a climate of almost complete immunity for harming and abusing detainees.

Only a single instance of assaulting inmates has proceeded to court, with the service member given a penalty to seven months. An attempt to charge others over a brutal attack involving sexual violence resulted in political demonstrations and the apprehension of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the accused individuals now insisting that indictments against them are dropped.

No Legal Action

“Regardless of this significant total of fatalities, during 24 months no one has been detained,” the representative said. “There are no charges over any death.

“As long as these practices remain in effect, every Palestinian in detention is at peril, including the physically well individuals, including the juveniles who have no health problems.”

High-Profile Cases

Certain fatalities in confinement have been high profile, such as a 50-year-old healthcare leader who died in confinement after a third of a year in detention.

A detainee held with the individual testified that he was brought to the courtyard by prison staff immediately preceding his demise, clearly wounded and unclothed from the waist down. His body has not been returned to Gaza.

Additional detainees who perished in confinement by Israeli authorities remain anonymous. Correctional authorities and military gave investigators with the figure of casualties in confinement, and limited further data such as the facility where they perished, but without the prisoners’ names.

Identification Challenges

For 21 instances, mostly detainees from Gaza, analysts were unable to correlate the limited information provided by government bodies to a fatality documented by rights organisations, either through statements from freed prisoners or reporting in the news outlets.

The detainees’ families may not know about their family members’ fatalities either, as Israel has created obstacles to monitor Palestinians it is detaining. Over half a year at the beginning of the conflict, the armed services refused to supply essential data about the condition of numerous of individuals held in Gaza, practically carrying out a policy of unacknowledged detention, according to the human rights group.

Limited Transparency

From May 2024, officials have established an digital correspondence for requests about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has resulted in merely a modest and inadequate enhancement. Researchers noted|observed|commented on