No Fewer Than 98 Palestinian Detainees Have Died in Custody Since October 2023, Official Figures Shows
Per data provided by Israel, no fewer than 98 detainees from Palestine have lost their lives during detention since October 2023. A rights monitoring body located in Israel has indicated that the true toll is almost certainly significantly higher, because of hundreds of unaccounted for individuals originating in Gaza.
Investigation Outcomes
A new investigation recorded fatalities attributed to brutality, medical neglect, and malnutrition. Investigators employed transparency petitions, medical examiner documents, and interviews with attorneys, advocates, relatives, and eyewitnesses.
Israeli authorities provided comprehensive information only for the opening period of the hostilities. Over this period, reported numbers indicate an record casualty rate among detained Palestinians, amounting to one death each 96 hours.
Recent Figures
Official armed forces last updated data on detention fatalities for May 2024, and the prison service in September 2024. Researchers documented another 35 fatalities in detention after these timeframes and validated them with government bodies.
Although the total number of casualties recorded being substantially larger than previous assessments, it almost certainly omits the entire scope of losses among Palestinians, per the leader of the prisoners and detainees department.
“While we are providing evidence for a larger total of casualties than previously reported, this is not a full picture,” he explained. “We are certain that there are still individuals who died in detention that we are unaware of.”
Civilian Deaths
Restricted Israeli data indicates that the majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who lost their lives in detention were civilians, per a related investigation.
By May of 2024, a defense forces registry following all combatants in Gaza, a list of in excess of 47,000 listed people, documented only 21 casualties in detention. By that point, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had lost their lives in jail.
Prison Situation
Physical violence, mistreatment, and other abuse of detainees from Palestine is now standard practice across Israel’s prison network throughout 24 months of hostilities. High-ranking authorities have publicly referenced starvation rations and an underground jail confining Palestinians who are denied sunlight.
Existing and previous detainees and insiders from the defense forces have uniformly asserted widespread breaches of global standards.
Institutionalized Cruelty
The systematic abuse was accompanied by a alarming increase in deaths registered across no fewer than 12 prison sites in Israel. During the previous decade before the war, there were usually two or three fatalities a year.
“This does not represent only a single occurrence here and there. It is systemic and it will continue,” a spokesperson stated, partly since there is a culture of virtual exemption from consequences for harming and abusing Palestinian individuals.
Merely one incident of assaulting inmates has come to trial, with the military personnel handed a punishment to seven months. An effort to prosecute other suspects over a vicious assault involving sexual violence led to political demonstrations and the apprehension of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the accused individuals now insisting that charges against them be withdrawn.
Absence of Consequences
“Regardless of this significant total of casualties, during 24 months not one individual has been arrested,” the official said. “There exist no prosecutions over any death.
“While these measures remain in effect, every Palestinian in confinement is at peril, even the physically well individuals, also the youth who have no medical issues.”
Notable Incidents
Certain fatalities in confinement have been widely reported, for instance a middle-aged healthcare leader who perished in detention after a third of a year in custody.
A detainee held with the deceased reported that he was led to the exercise area by prison staff immediately preceding his death, clearly wounded and exposed from the waist down. His body has not been returned to Gaza.
Other prisoners who perished in confinement by Israeli authorities are unidentified. Correctional authorities and military gave analysts with the number of deaths in custody, and limited further data such as the site where they perished, but excluding the detainees’ identities.
Recognition Difficulties
Regarding 21 occurrences, primarily detainees from Gaza, investigators were unable to correlate the few details supplied by authorities to a death documented by advocacy bodies, either through statements from released detainees or reporting in the press.
The prisoners’ relatives might not have learned about their relatives’ casualties as well, as Israel has made it difficult to monitor Palestinian individuals it is detaining. Over half a year at the start of the war, the defense forces would not provide to give basic information about the status of numerous of individuals detained in Gaza, in effect implementing a practice of involuntary missing persons, according to the rights monitoring body.
Insufficient Disclosure
From May 2024, authorities have provided an email address for inquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has led to just a partial and limited betterment. Researchers noted|observed|commented on
