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Based on figures provided by Israel, a minimum of 98 Palestinians have lost their lives while detained since October 2023. A rights monitoring body operating from Israel has indicated that the real figure is probably significantly larger, due to many of disappeared individuals originating in Gaza.

Study Results

A recent report documented casualties resulting from assault, lack of healthcare, and starvation. Analysts employed freedom of information requests, autopsy findings, and discussions with legal representatives, human rights defenders, next of kin, and eyewitnesses.

Official sources released complete data solely covering the first eight months of the war. Over this period, reported numbers indicate an historically high fatality rate among detained Palestinians, equating to a single fatality each 96 hours.

Recent Figures

Israeli defense forces last updated records on custodial deaths for May 2024, and correctional authorities during September 2024. Analysts discovered another 35 fatalities in custody following these periods and confirmed them with government bodies.

Although the aggregate figure of deaths recorded being significantly higher than previous assessments, it likely does not reflect the full scale of Palestinian loss, per the head 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 stated. “We are certain that there are yet people who perished in detention that we have not identified.”

Civilian Deaths

Classified Israeli data suggests that the majority of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who died in jail were civilians, according to a parallel inquiry.

During May of this year, a military intelligence database tracking all combatants in Gaza, a list of more than 47,000 listed people, documented merely 21 casualties in confinement. At that time, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had perished in jail.

Prison Situation

Assault, abuse, and additional maltreatment of Palestinians is now standard practice across Israel’s detention facilities during two years of war. Top government figures have publicly referenced starvation rations and an below-ground detention center detaining detainees who never see daylight.

Current and former prisoners and informants from the armed services have uniformly asserted routine infractions of global standards.

Organized Maltreatment

The organized mistreatment occurred alongside a troubling surge in deaths documented across no fewer than 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. In the decade before the war, there were usually several fatalities a year.

“This is not just an individual case occasionally. It is widespread and it is likely to persist,” a representative commented, partially because there is a environment of near total impunity for harming and abusing Palestinians.

Only a single instance of beating prisoners has reached litigation, with the service member handed a punishment to half a year. An effort to charge additional individuals over a brutal attack involving abuse resulted in public rallies and the arrest of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the accused individuals now demanding that charges against them be withdrawn.

Absence of Consequences

“Regardless of this significant total of deaths, over two years not one individual has faced arrest,” the representative noted. “There are no indictments over any killing.

“While these practices are being applied, every Palestinian in custody is in danger, even the healthy ones, even the young ones who have no medical issues.”

High-Profile Cases

Certain fatalities in confinement have been publicly known, such as a middle-aged healthcare leader who perished in prison after a third of a year in confinement.

A detainee incarcerated with the deceased testified that he was taken to the yard by correctional officers just prior to his demise, obviously hurt and unclothed from the waist down. His corpse has not been returned to Gaza.

Other prisoners who perished in detention in Israel remain anonymous. Detention administrators and military gave investigators with the number of casualties in custody, and limited further data including the facility where they perished, but excluding the inmates’ personal details.

Identification Challenges

Regarding 21 occurrences, mainly individuals from Gaza, investigators were unable to match the few details supplied by government bodies to a fatality recorded by human rights groups, via statements from former inmates or coverage in the media.

The inmates’ next of kin might not have learned about their loved ones’ deaths also, as Israel has created obstacles to track detainees it is detaining. Over half a year at the beginning of the conflict, the Israeli military refused to supply fundamental details about the whereabouts of many of people held in Gaza, in effect implementing a policy of unacknowledged detention, as stated by the rights monitoring body.

Insufficient Disclosure

From May 2024, authorities have created an electronic contact for inquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has resulted in merely a incomplete and restricted improvement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on