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Based on information released by Israel, at least 98 detainees from Palestine have died while detained starting from October 2023. An advocacy organization based in Israel has stated that the real number is probably considerably higher, due to numerous of unaccounted for individuals in Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation documented deaths attributed to physical violence, lack of healthcare, and inadequate nutrition. Investigators utilized transparency petitions, medical examiner documents, and discussions with lawyers, activists, relatives, and observers.

Government bodies released complete information limited to the initial 240 days of the hostilities. Throughout these months, government statistics indicate an record casualty rate among Palestinian prisoners, averaging a life lost each 96 hours.

Latest Data

Official armed forces finalized information on detention fatalities for May 2024, and detention administration in September 2024. Analysts documented a further 35 fatalities in detention following these timeframes and confirmed them with Israeli authorities.

Even with the total number of fatalities recorded being significantly higher than previous assessments, it probably omits the full scale of Palestinian casualties, per the head of the prisoners and detainees department.

“Although we are offering documentation for a larger total of casualties than previously reported, this is not a full picture,” he stated. “We are sure that there are even now detainees who died in detention that we don’t know about.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Restricted government records suggests that the majority of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who lost their lives in jail were non-combatants, based on a simultaneous examination.

In May of the current year, a defense forces registry following all militants in Gaza, a registry of over 47,000 named individuals, listed just 21 deaths in detention. By that point, 65 Gazans from Gaza had died in jail.

Prison Situation

Assault, mistreatment, and additional maltreatment of Palestinians is now standard practice across Israel’s jail system throughout two years of conflict. Top government figures have publicly referenced minimal sustenance and an below-ground detention center confining Palestinian individuals who are kept in darkness.

Existing and previous detainees and whistleblowers from the Israeli military have collectively claimed routine infractions of global standards.

Organized Maltreatment

The organized mistreatment came with a troubling surge in deaths registered across at least 12 prison sites in Israel. During the previous decade before the war, there were typically several fatalities a year.

“This does not represent just an individual case sporadically. It is systemic and it will continue,” an official stated, in part since there is a environment of near total impunity for harming and abusing Palestinians.

Just one case of beating detainees has come to trial, with the military personnel sentenced to 210 days. An effort to prosecute other suspects over a brutal attack featuring assault resulted in political demonstrations and the detention of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the suspects now insisting that indictments against them be withdrawn.

Lack of Accountability

“Regardless of this significant total of casualties, over two years no one has been arrested,” the representative noted. “There exist no indictments over any killing.

“While these policies remain in effect, all Palestinian detainees in confinement is at peril, even the those in good health, also the youth who have no health problems.”

Prominent Examples

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

A detainee held with the deceased stated that he was taken to the exercise area by guards just prior to his death, obviously hurt and exposed from the hips downward. His remains has not been returned to Gaza.

Additional detainees who perished in detention in Israel remain anonymous. The prison service and military supplied investigators with the total of casualties in confinement, and limited other details such as the site where they perished, but without the prisoners’ names.

Identification Challenges

For 21 instances, mainly individuals from Gaza, investigators were not able to connect the limited information supplied by authorities to a death registered by advocacy bodies, via accounts from former inmates or accounts in the media.

The detainees’ families may not know about their loved ones’ deaths also, as Israel has made it difficult to locate detainees it is confining. For seven months at the beginning of the conflict, the defense forces would not provide to supply basic information about the whereabouts of many of persons detained in Gaza, in effect implementing a practice of unacknowledged detention, according to the rights monitoring body.

Restricted Access

Starting in May 2024, officials have provided an electronic contact for enquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has resulted in merely a modest and inadequate enhancement. Researchers noted|observed|commented on