No Fewer Than 98 Palestinians Lost Their Lives in Custody Since October 2023, Official Figures Reveals

According to information from Israel, at least 98 detainees from Palestine have lost their lives while detained since October 2023. A rights monitoring body based in Israel has stated that the true figure is almost certainly substantially greater, as a result of numerous of missing detainees in Gaza.

Study Results

A new investigation tracked fatalities caused by physical violence, medical neglect, and malnutrition. Researchers employed transparency petitions, medical examiner documents, and testimonies with lawyers, advocates, family members, and observers.

Government bodies released complete information only for the opening period of the hostilities. Throughout these months, reported numbers reveal an historically high fatality rate among Palestinian detainees, amounting to one death every four days.

Updated Statistics

The military most recently revised information on detention fatalities for May 2024, and detention administration by September 2024. Analysts discovered another 35 casualties in custody following these timeframes and confirmed them with government bodies.

Despite the overall count of fatalities documented being much greater than previous assessments, it probably omits the entire scope of Palestinian casualties, according to the director of the prisoners and detainees department.

“While we are providing evidence for a larger total of casualties than once estimated, this is not the entire story,” he explained. “We are certain that there are yet individuals who died in confinement that we have not identified.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Classified Israeli data suggests that the vast majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who died in detention were civilians, per a parallel examination.

In May of the current year, a armed services record following all militants in Gaza, a list of over 47,000 identified persons, documented merely 21 deaths in detention. By that point, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had lost their lives in detention.

Prison Situation

Assault, mistreatment, and other abuse of Palestinians has been normalised across Israel’s prison network over the duration of hostilities. High-ranking authorities have publicly referenced minimal sustenance and an underground jail holding Palestinian individuals who are kept in darkness.

Existing and previous detainees and informants from the Israeli military have uniformly asserted widespread breaches of human rights protocols.

Organized Maltreatment

The systematic abuse occurred alongside a troubling surge in fatalities documented across no fewer than 12 detention centers in Israel. Over ten years preceding the war, there were typically a couple fatalities a year.

“This is not just an individual case occasionally. It is institutional and it is likely to persist,” a representative stated, partly because there is a environment of near total impunity for killing and mistreating detainees.

Just one case of beating detainees has come to trial, with the soldier given a penalty to half a year. An effort to prosecute other suspects over a brutal attack involving abuse led to public rallies and the apprehension of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the suspects now requesting that indictments against them be dismissed.

Absence of Consequences

“In spite of this large quantity of fatalities, over two years not one individual has faced arrest,” the official said. “There are no indictments over any death.

“During the time these measures remain in effect, every Palestinian in detention is in danger, including the those in good health, including the young ones who have no medical issues.”

Notable Incidents

Some deaths in custody have been widely reported, such as a senior healthcare leader who died in confinement after 120 days in confinement.

A prisoner held with the victim reported that he was brought to the courtyard by correctional officers just prior to his demise, obviously hurt and naked from the lower body. His body remains unreleased to Gaza.

Additional detainees who lost their lives in Israeli custody stay unnamed. Correctional authorities and armed services provided analysts with the figure of deaths in custody, and basic additional information including the site where they lost their lives, but not the detainees’ identities.

Identification Challenges

For 21 instances, mostly people from Gaza, researchers were unable to correlate the few details supplied by authorities to a fatality registered by rights organisations, either through statements from released detainees or coverage in the media.

The detainees’ families may not know about their loved ones’ deaths also, as Israel has impeded efforts to track detainees it is detaining. For seven months at the beginning of the hostilities, the Israeli military refused to provide essential data about the condition of many of persons detained in Gaza, practically implementing a policy of unacknowledged detention, as stated by the rights monitoring body.

Limited Transparency

From May 2024, officials have provided an email address for enquiries about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited improvement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on