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Per data released by Israel, at least 98 Palestinian individuals have perished while detained beginning in October 2023. An advocacy organization based in Israel has stated that the real toll is likely significantly greater, as a result of hundreds of disappeared people in Gaza.

Study Results

A new investigation tracked deaths attributed to physical violence, medical neglect, and starvation. Analysts used freedom of information requests, forensic reports, and testimonies with legal representatives, activists, family members, and observers.

Official sources provided detailed information only for the opening period of the war. Over this period, reported numbers show an unprecedented fatality rate among detained Palestinians, averaging a life lost each 96 hours.

Updated Statistics

The military most recently revised information on detention fatalities for May 2024, and the prison service in September 2024. Researchers discovered another 35 deaths in custody after these dates and verified them with government bodies.

Even with the overall count of casualties charted being substantially larger than previous assessments, it almost certainly fails to capture the complete extent of Palestinian casualties, according to the head of the prisoners and detainees department.

“While we are presenting proof for a higher number of fatalities than earlier indicated, this is not a full picture,” he said. “We are sure that there are still detainees who died in custody that we have not identified.”

Civilian Deaths

Classified government records suggests that the largest portion of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who died in jail were non-combatants, based on a parallel inquiry.

In May of the current year, a armed services record following all combatants in Gaza, a roster of over 47,000 listed people, recorded just 21 casualties in custody. At that time, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had perished in prison.

Detention Conditions

Brutality, mistreatment, and further cruelty of detainees from Palestine is now standard practice across Israel’s detention facilities during two years of war. Senior officials have publicly acknowledged starvation rations and an subterranean prison detaining Palestinians who are denied sunlight.

Existing and previous detainees and whistleblowers from the Israeli military have uniformly asserted widespread breaches of international law.

Organized Maltreatment

The institutionalised cruelty occurred alongside a troubling surge in fatalities recorded across no fewer than 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. In the decade preceding the war, there were typically a couple fatalities a year.

“This isn’t just an individual case here and there. It is institutional and it is expected to endure,” an official stated, partly since there is a environment of virtual exemption from consequences for harming and abusing detainees.

Only a single instance of attacking inmates has reached litigation, with the military personnel given a penalty to seven months. A endeavor to charge other suspects over a vicious assault including sexual violence led to public rallies and the detention of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the accused individuals now demanding that allegations against them be withdrawn.

Lack of Accountability

“Despite this mass number of casualties, throughout the conflict not one individual has faced arrest,” the representative noted. “There exist no indictments over any death.

“While these policies continue to be enforced, all Palestinian detainees in custody is in danger, including the those in good health, even the juveniles who have no health problems.”

High-Profile Cases

Several casualties in confinement have been publicly known, including a 50-year-old hospital director who died in confinement after 120 days in detention.

A prisoner detained alongside the deceased testified that he was brought to the yard by prison staff immediately preceding his passing, clearly wounded and unclothed from the hips downward. His body has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Further inmates who died in confinement by Israeli authorities are unidentified. Correctional authorities and armed services gave analysts with the figure of casualties in confinement, and limited other details such as the location where they died, but excluding the detainees’ identities.

Identification Challenges

Regarding 21 occurrences, mostly individuals from Gaza, analysts could not to correlate the few details given by government bodies to a casualty recorded by advocacy bodies, via testimony from freed prisoners or accounts in the press.

The detainees’ families may not know about their family members’ fatalities as well, as Israel has impeded efforts to monitor Palestinians it is holding. During 210 days at the beginning of the conflict, the defense forces declined to give fundamental details about the whereabouts of thousands of individuals confined in Gaza, practically enacting a approach of forced disappearance, according to the human rights group.

Insufficient Disclosure

From May 2024, authorities have provided an digital correspondence for requests about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited improvement. Investigators noted|observed|commented on