At Least 98 Palestinian Individuals Lost Their Lives in Custody Since October 2023, Official Figures Shows
Per information released by Israel, a minimum of 98 Palestinian individuals have perished while in custody since October 2023. An advocacy organization operating from Israel has stated that the true number is almost certainly considerably higher, as a result of many of missing individuals in Gaza.
Investigation Outcomes
A recent report tracked casualties resulting from brutality, failure to provide medical care, and starvation. Investigators utilized transparency petitions, autopsy findings, and discussions with attorneys, human rights defenders, relatives, and eyewitnesses.
Official sources disclosed detailed statistics only for the initial 240 days of the war. Over this period, reported numbers indicate an unprecedented fatality rate among Palestinian prisoners, averaging one death each 96 hours.
Updated Statistics
The military last updated data on detention fatalities for May 2024, and detention administration in September 2024. Analysts documented an additional 35 fatalities in detention following these periods and validated them with official sources.
Although the aggregate figure of fatalities recorded being significantly higher than previous assessments, it likely omits the entire scope of Palestinian loss, per the head of the prisoners and detainees department.
“While we are providing evidence for a larger total of casualties than once estimated, this is not a full picture,” he stated. “We are certain that there are still detainees who died in detention that we have not identified.”
Civilian Casualties
Restricted official information suggests that the largest portion of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who died in detention were non-combatants, according to a simultaneous investigation.
During May of the current year, a defense forces registry monitoring all combatants in Gaza, a roster of over 47,000 named individuals, listed only 21 casualties in detention. By that point, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had lost their lives in prison.
Custodial Environment
Physical violence, torture, and additional maltreatment of detainees from Palestine has been normalised across Israel’s jail system during 24 months of hostilities. Top government figures have publicly referenced minimal sustenance and an below-ground detention center detaining Palestinian individuals who never see daylight.
Existing and previous inmates and whistleblowers from the armed services have all alleged systemic violations of international law.
Institutionalized Cruelty
The systematic abuse occurred alongside a troubling surge in casualties documented across a minimum of 12 prison sites in Israel. In the decade preceding the hostilities, there were on average two or three fatalities a year.
“This does not represent only a single occurrence sporadically. It is systemic and it will continue,” a spokesperson said, in part because there is a culture of almost complete immunity for killing and mistreating Palestinian individuals.
Merely one incident of attacking inmates has reached litigation, with the military personnel given a penalty to half a year. An effort to prosecute others over a brutal attack featuring abuse caused political demonstrations and the apprehension of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the alleged perpetrators now insisting that indictments against them be dismissed.
Absence of Consequences
“Regardless of this significant total of deaths, during 24 months no one has been detained,” the representative said. “There have been no charges over any fatality.
“During the time these policies continue to be enforced, each Palestinian individual in detention is in danger, including the those in good health, also the young ones who have no health problems.”
High-Profile Cases
Several casualties in confinement have been high profile, for instance a 50-year-old hospital director who perished in confinement after 120 days in detention.
A detainee incarcerated with the individual testified that he was taken to the yard by guards immediately preceding his passing, clearly wounded and exposed from the waist down. His remains remains unreleased to Gaza.
Additional detainees who perished in detention in Israel stay unnamed. Correctional authorities and military provided analysts with the total of casualties in detention, and basic further data including the location where they lost their lives, but not the inmates’ personal details.
Identification Challenges
For 21 instances, mainly people from Gaza, researchers were not able to match the few details supplied by officials to a casualty recorded by human rights groups, either through testimony from freed prisoners or accounts in the news outlets.
The inmates’ next of kin may not know about their relatives’ casualties as well, as Israel has made it difficult to monitor detainees it is confining. Over half a year at the start of the war, the Israeli military refused to provide basic information about the condition of numerous of persons confined in Gaza, in effect enacting a policy of involuntary missing persons, per the rights monitoring body.
Insufficient Disclosure
Beginning last May, officials have provided an email address for requests about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has provided only a incomplete and restricted enhancement. Investigators noted|observed|commented on
