No Fewer Than 98 Palestinians Have Died in Detention Since October 2023, Israeli Data Reveals
Based on data provided by Israel, a minimum of 98 Palestinians have perished during detention beginning in October 2023. An advocacy organization based in Israel has stated that the actual figure is likely substantially higher, because of many of disappeared people from Gaza.
Study Results
A recent report documented casualties attributed to physical violence, medical neglect, and malnutrition. Researchers used freedom of information requests, forensic reports, and interviews with legal representatives, activists, family members, and eyewitnesses.
Israeli authorities provided detailed information solely covering the opening period of the hostilities. Throughout these months, reported numbers indicate an historically high casualty rate among Palestinian prisoners, equating to one death each 96 hours.
Recent Figures
Israeli defense forces finalized information on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities in September 2024. Investigators discovered a further 35 fatalities in detention following these timeframes and verified them with government bodies.
Despite the total number of casualties documented being significantly higher than other recent estimates, it almost certainly fails to capture the entire scope of losses among Palestinians, per the head of the prisoners and detainees department.
“Even though we are presenting proof for a larger total of deaths than earlier indicated, this is not a full picture,” he stated. “We are certain that there are still people who perished in custody that we have not identified.”
Civilian Deaths
Classified official information shows that the majority of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who died in jail were non-combatants, based on a parallel inquiry.
During May of the current year, a military intelligence database monitoring all fighters in Gaza, a registry of more than 47,000 listed people, listed just 21 casualties in custody. At that time, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had perished in jail.
Custodial Environment
Assault, mistreatment, and other abuse of Palestinian individuals is now standard practice across Israel’s jail system during the duration of war. Senior officials have publicly acknowledged inadequate food and an subterranean prison confining Palestinian individuals who are kept in darkness.
Current and former prisoners and informants from the defense forces have collectively claimed routine infractions of global standards.
Systemic Abuse
The institutionalised cruelty was accompanied by a alarming increase in casualties registered across at least 12 detention centers in Israel. In the decade prior to the hostilities, there were typically two or three fatalities a year.
“This isn’t merely an isolated incident occasionally. It is systemic and it is expected to endure,” a spokesperson stated, in part because there is a culture of near total impunity for killing and mistreating detainees.
Only a single instance of assaulting detainees has proceeded to court, with the military personnel sentenced to 210 days. An attempt to try other suspects over a vicious assault including abuse caused public rallies and the detention of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the accused individuals now demanding that allegations against them are dropped.
Absence of Consequences
“Regardless of this significant total of fatalities, throughout the conflict no one has faced arrest,” the spokesperson said. “There are no prosecutions over any fatality.
“While these practices are being applied, all Palestinian detainees in confinement is at peril, even the healthy ones, even the youth who have no underlying conditions.”
Prominent Examples
Some deaths in detention have been widely reported, such as a middle-aged hospital director who perished in detention after a third of a year in custody.
A detainee detained alongside the victim stated that he was brought to the courtyard by prison staff shortly before his passing, clearly wounded and naked from the hips downward. His body remains unreleased to Gaza.
Additional detainees who perished in confinement by Israeli authorities remain anonymous. Correctional authorities and military provided researchers with the total of fatalities in custody, and basic other details including the site where they lost their lives, but not the detainees’ identities.
Documentation Problems
Regarding 21 occurrences, mostly people from Gaza, analysts were unable to connect the few details supplied by authorities to a fatality documented by rights organisations, via statements from former inmates or coverage in the press.
The inmates’ next of kin could be unaware about their relatives’ casualties either, as Israel has made it difficult to track Palestinians it is detaining. For seven months at the start of the hostilities, the armed services would not provide to provide fundamental details about the whereabouts of thousands of people held in Gaza, effectively enacting a policy of forced disappearance, per the advocacy organization.
Restricted Access
From May 2024, officials have created an email address for requests about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has resulted in merely a modest and inadequate improvement. Investigators noted|observed|commented on
