At Least 98 Palestinians Have Died in Custody Since October 2023, Israeli Data Shows

According to information provided by Israel, no fewer than 98 Palestinians have lost their lives while detained beginning in October 2023. An advocacy organization based in Israel has indicated that the real toll is almost certainly considerably greater, due to hundreds of missing people originating in Gaza.

Report Findings

An updated study documented deaths attributed to assault, lack of healthcare, and inadequate nutrition. Investigators used freedom of information requests, autopsy findings, and testimonies with legal representatives, human rights defenders, relatives, and witnesses.

Government bodies disclosed complete information only for the first eight months of the hostilities. Over this period, government statistics show an historically high death toll among Palestinian detainees, averaging a life lost each 96 hours.

Recent Figures

The military most recently revised data on detention fatalities for May 2024, and the prison service during September 2024. Researchers discovered an additional 35 casualties in custody after these periods and validated them with official sources.

Even with the overall count of casualties recorded being much greater than previous assessments, it probably fails to capture the full scale of Palestinian loss, per the head of the detainee affairs unit.

“Even though we are offering documentation for a higher number of casualties than earlier indicated, this is not a full picture,” he said. “We are confident that there are even now individuals who died 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 jail were non-combatants, per a related investigation.

In May of 2024, a defense forces registry tracking all combatants in Gaza, a registry of over 47,000 named individuals, listed merely 21 deaths in detention. At that time, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had lost their lives in jail.

Prison Situation

Assault, torture, and additional maltreatment of Palestinian individuals is now standard practice across Israel’s detention facilities during two years of conflict. High-ranking authorities have publicly acknowledged starvation rations and an below-ground detention center holding Palestinian individuals who are kept in darkness.

Present and past detainees and whistleblowers from the defense forces have uniformly asserted widespread breaches of international law.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The systematic abuse was accompanied by a disturbing rise in deaths documented across no fewer than 12 detention centers in Israel. During the previous decade preceding the war, there were on average two or three fatalities a year.

“This does not represent only a single occurrence here and there. It is systemic and it is likely to persist,” a representative said, in part because there is a climate of virtual exemption from consequences for fatalities and maltreatment of Palestinians.

Just one case of assaulting inmates has come to trial, with the soldier sentenced to half a year. An attempt to prosecute others over a vicious assault including sexual violence caused political demonstrations and the apprehension of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the suspects now demanding that indictments against them be dismissed.

Absence of Consequences

“Regardless of this mass number of deaths, over two years not a single person has been arrested,” the official said. “There have been no prosecutions over any fatality.

“While these practices remain in effect, every Palestinian in custody is at peril, also the healthy ones, including the young ones who have no health problems.”

High-Profile Cases

Several casualties in confinement have been widely reported, including a 50-year-old medical chief who died in prison after a third of a year in detention.

A detainee detained alongside the individual stated that he was led to the yard by correctional officers just prior to his death, visibly injured and unclothed from the lower body. His corpse remains unreleased to Gaza.

Additional detainees who perished in confinement by Israeli authorities are unidentified. The prison service and armed services provided analysts with the total of casualties in confinement, and basic further data including the site where they lost their lives, but without the inmates’ personal details.

Identification Challenges

Regarding 21 occurrences, mainly people from Gaza, analysts could not to match the few details provided by government bodies to a fatality documented by advocacy bodies, via statements from freed prisoners or reporting in the press.

The prisoners’ relatives could be unaware about their loved ones’ deaths also, as Israel has created obstacles to locate Palestinians it is detaining. During 210 days at the start of the conflict, the defense forces declined to provide essential data about the status of thousands of people confined in Gaza, practically implementing a policy of forced disappearance, according to the advocacy organization.

Restricted Access

From May 2024, officials have provided an electronic contact for inquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has led to just a partial and limited enhancement. Researchers noted|observed|commented on