No Fewer Than 98 Palestinian Individuals Have Died in Custody Since October 2023, Official Figures Shows
According to figures released by Israel, at least 98 Palestinians have died while detained beginning in October 2023. A human rights group operating from Israel has stated that the actual figure is likely substantially greater, as a result of many of unaccounted for detainees originating in Gaza.
Study Results
A recent report documented casualties attributed to assault, failure to provide medical care, and starvation. Researchers employed official data requests, medical examiner documents, and discussions with lawyers, advocates, relatives, and witnesses.
Israeli authorities provided detailed statistics solely covering the first eight months of the conflict. During this time, reported numbers show an unprecedented death toll among Palestinian detainees, amounting to a life lost each 96 hours.
Recent Figures
Official armed forces last updated data on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Analysts identified another 35 deaths in detention following these timeframes and verified them with Israeli authorities.
Although the overall count of fatalities documented being significantly higher than other recent estimates, it likely does not reflect the full scale of losses among Palestinians, per the director of the detainee affairs unit.
“Even though we are presenting proof for a higher number of deaths than once estimated, this is not a full picture,” he said. “We are certain that there are still individuals who died in confinement that we are unaware of.”
Non-Combatant Fatalities
Confidential government records shows that the largest portion of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who perished in detention were non-combatants, per a simultaneous examination.
During May of the current year, a defense forces registry following all militants in Gaza, a list of more than 47,000 named individuals, recorded only 21 fatalities in confinement. At that time, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had perished in jail.
Prison Situation
Physical violence, abuse, and other abuse of Palestinian individuals has been normalised across Israel’s prison network over 24 months of war. Senior officials have openly admitted minimal sustenance and an subterranean prison detaining detainees who are kept in darkness.
Present and past inmates and insiders from the defense forces have collectively claimed systemic violations of international law.
Institutionalized Cruelty
The organized mistreatment occurred alongside a disturbing rise in casualties documented across no fewer than 12 prison sites in Israel. Over ten years preceding the war, there were typically several fatalities a year.
“This is not only a single occurrence sporadically. It is institutional and it is expected to endure,” an official said, partially since there is a climate of near total impunity for killing and mistreating Palestinians.
Merely one incident of attacking inmates has proceeded to court, with the service member sentenced to 210 days. A endeavor to charge others over a vicious assault including sexual violence caused public rallies and the apprehension of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the accused individuals now requesting that charges against them be withdrawn.
Lack of Accountability
“In spite of this large quantity of fatalities, throughout the conflict not a single person has been arrested,” the spokesperson stated. “There exist no indictments over any death.
“During the time these practices continue to be enforced, every Palestinian in detention faces risk, even the healthy ones, also the juveniles who have no underlying conditions.”
High-Profile Cases
Some deaths in confinement have been publicly known, for instance a senior healthcare leader who died in detention after 120 days in custody.
A detainee detained alongside the deceased testified that he was taken to the yard by correctional officers shortly before his death, visibly injured and exposed from the lower body. His remains remains unreleased to Gaza.
Further inmates who lost their lives in confinement by Israeli authorities stay unnamed. Correctional authorities and military gave analysts with the number of deaths in confinement, and minimal additional information such as the location where they died, but not the prisoners’ names.
Identification Challenges
Regarding 21 occurrences, mainly individuals from Gaza, investigators were unable to match the few details supplied by officials to a fatality registered by advocacy bodies, either through testimony from freed prisoners or accounts in the press.
The prisoners’ relatives could be unaware about their family members’ fatalities as well, as Israel has impeded efforts to locate Palestinian individuals it is detaining. Over half a year at the outset of the war, the defense forces refused to supply basic information about the status of many of individuals held in Gaza, practically enacting a practice of involuntary missing persons, according to the advocacy organization.
Insufficient Disclosure
From May 2024, government bodies have created an digital correspondence for inquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has provided only a modest and inadequate betterment. Investigators noted|observed|commented on
