🔗 Share this article

According to figures from Israel, at least 98 Palestinian individuals have lost their lives while in custody beginning in October 2023. A rights monitoring body based in Israel has reported that the true figure is likely considerably larger, because of hundreds of unaccounted for people in Gaza.

Study Results

An updated study tracked casualties attributed to brutality, lack of healthcare, and inadequate nutrition. Researchers utilized freedom of information requests, medical examiner documents, and testimonies with lawyers, activists, next of kin, and observers.

Israeli authorities disclosed detailed information only for the opening period of the conflict. During this time, government statistics show an unprecedented fatality rate among detained Palestinians, equating to a single fatality each 96 hours.

Recent Figures

The military last updated information on custodial deaths for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Investigators identified an additional 35 deaths in custody subsequent to these periods and confirmed them with government bodies.

Although the total number of fatalities recorded being substantially larger than other recent estimates, it probably omits the complete extent of losses among Palestinians, according to the director of the detainee affairs unit.

“Even though we are providing evidence for a larger total of deaths than earlier indicated, this is not a full picture,” he explained. “We are certain that there are still detainees who lost their lives in custody that we have not identified.”

Civilian Deaths

Confidential Israeli data indicates that the vast majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who died in jail were ordinary citizens, per a simultaneous investigation.

During May of this year, a military intelligence database monitoring all fighters in Gaza, a list of in excess of 47,000 listed people, recorded only 21 fatalities in detention. By that date, 65 Gazans from Gaza had lost their lives in jail.

Prison Situation

Physical violence, torture, and further cruelty of Palestinians has been normalised across Israel’s prison network during the duration of hostilities. Senior officials have publicly acknowledged starvation rations and an underground jail detaining Palestinians who are denied sunlight.

Existing and previous prisoners and informants from the Israeli military have collectively claimed widespread breaches of global standards.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The systematic abuse occurred alongside a alarming increase in fatalities recorded across a minimum of 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. Over ten years before the conflict, there were on average a couple deaths a year.

“This does not represent just an individual case sporadically. It is widespread and it is expected to endure,” a representative stated, in part since there is a environment of virtual exemption from consequences for harming and abusing detainees.

Merely one incident of assaulting detainees has come to trial, with the military personnel handed a punishment to half a year. An effort to try other suspects over a vicious assault featuring sexual violence led to political demonstrations and the apprehension of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the alleged perpetrators now requesting that allegations against them be withdrawn.

Lack of Accountability

“Regardless of this large quantity of fatalities, throughout the conflict not a single person has faced arrest,” the official said. “There exist no indictments over any fatality.

“During the time these policies remain in effect, every Palestinian in confinement is at peril, also the those in good health, even the youth who have no medical issues.”

High-Profile Cases

Certain fatalities in detention have been widely reported, for instance a senior healthcare leader who perished in detention after a third of a year in confinement.

A prisoner held with the victim testified that he was led to the courtyard by guards just prior to his passing, clearly wounded and unclothed from the hips downward. His remains has not been returned to Gaza.

Additional detainees who lost their lives in detention in Israel stay unnamed. Detention administrators and armed services supplied researchers with the total of fatalities in confinement, and limited further data for example the site where they lost their lives, but excluding the inmates’ personal details.

Identification Challenges

In 21 cases, primarily people from Gaza, researchers were unable to correlate the limited information given by officials to a fatality documented by human rights groups, via accounts from released detainees or accounts in the news outlets.

The prisoners’ relatives may not know about their loved ones’ deaths as well, as Israel has impeded efforts to track Palestinians it is holding. During 210 days at the beginning of the war, the defense forces declined to provide fundamental details about the condition of many of individuals confined in Gaza, effectively implementing a policy of involuntary missing persons, per the rights monitoring body.

Restricted Access

Beginning last May, officials have provided an digital correspondence for inquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has resulted in merely a modest and inadequate improvement. Researchers noted|observed|commented on