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Per figures released by Israel, no fewer than 98 detainees from Palestine have lost their lives while in custody starting from October 2023. A rights monitoring body operating from Israel has reported that the actual toll is almost certainly significantly larger, because of hundreds of unaccounted for individuals in Gaza.

Study Results

A recent report recorded deaths caused by assault, medical neglect, and malnutrition. Researchers used transparency petitions, medical examiner documents, and testimonies with lawyers, advocates, next of kin, and eyewitnesses.

Israeli authorities released complete data only for the initial 240 days of the war. Over this period, official figures indicate an unprecedented casualty rate among Palestinian prisoners, averaging one death every four days.

Updated Statistics

The military last updated records on deaths in detention for May 2024, and the prison service during September 2024. Researchers documented a further 35 deaths in detention after these timeframes and confirmed them with Israeli authorities.

Although the overall count of deaths recorded being significantly higher than earlier projections, it almost certainly does not reflect the full scale of losses among Palestinians, according to the head of the prisoner monitoring division.

“Even though we are offering documentation for a higher number of deaths than once estimated, this is not a full picture,” he explained. “We are confident that there are still people who perished in custody that we have not identified.”

Civilian Deaths

Confidential official information shows that the largest portion of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who perished in detention were ordinary citizens, per a simultaneous inquiry.

In May of this year, a military intelligence database following all combatants in Gaza, a list of more than 47,000 named individuals, listed just 21 fatalities in detention. By that date, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had lost their lives in jail.

Custodial Environment

Assault, torture, and additional maltreatment of detainees from Palestine has become routine across Israel’s jail system throughout two years of war. Top government figures have publicly referenced starvation rations and an below-ground detention center detaining detainees who are kept in darkness.

Existing and previous inmates and informants from the armed services have all alleged widespread breaches of human rights protocols.

Systemic Abuse

The systematic abuse occurred alongside a troubling surge in fatalities documented across a minimum of 12 prison sites in Israel. In the decade before the conflict, there were on average two or three deaths a year.

“This is not merely an isolated incident occasionally. It is widespread and it will continue,” a spokesperson said, in part since there is a culture of near total impunity for harming and abusing Palestinians.

Only a single instance of assaulting prisoners has proceeded to court, with the service member sentenced to 210 days. An effort to charge others over a severe beating including abuse resulted in public rallies and the detention of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the accused individuals now demanding that indictments against them are dropped.

Absence of Consequences

“Regardless of this large quantity of deaths, throughout the conflict not one individual has faced arrest,” the representative said. “There exist no charges over any fatality.

“As long as these measures are being applied, every Palestinian in detention is in danger, even the physically well individuals, including the young ones who have no health problems.”

Notable Incidents

Some deaths in confinement have been widely reported, such as a senior healthcare leader who perished in detention after 120 days in detention.

An inmate held with the victim reported that he was led to the yard by guards just prior to his death, visibly injured and exposed from the hips downward. His body has not been returned to Gaza.

Further inmates who died in detention in Israel remain anonymous. The prison service and armed services gave investigators with the number of deaths in detention, and minimal further data for example the site where they lost their lives, but without the prisoners’ names.

Recognition Difficulties

In 21 cases, primarily individuals from Gaza, researchers were not able to match the limited information provided by authorities to a casualty recorded by human rights groups, via testimony from former inmates or accounts in the press.

The detainees’ families may not know about their loved ones’ deaths as well, as Israel has made it difficult to track Palestinians it is holding. For seven months at the start of the war, the armed services would not provide to provide essential data about the condition of thousands of persons held in Gaza, effectively enacting a approach of involuntary missing persons, as stated by the advocacy organization.

Restricted Access

Beginning last May, officials have established an email address for enquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has led to just a modest and inadequate betterment. Researchers noted|observed|commented on