No Fewer Than 98 Palestinians Lost Their Lives in Israeli Custody Since October 2023, Statistics from Israel Shows
Per figures provided by Israel, at least 98 detainees from Palestine have died while detained starting from October 2023. An advocacy organization based in Israel has stated that the actual number is probably considerably larger, due to many of missing individuals from Gaza.
Study Results
An updated study documented casualties caused by physical violence, failure to provide medical care, and starvation. Investigators used freedom of information requests, medical examiner documents, and testimonies with lawyers, human rights defenders, relatives, and witnesses.
Israeli authorities disclosed detailed statistics limited to the first eight months of the hostilities. Throughout these months, reported numbers indicate an unprecedented casualty rate among Palestinian prisoners, equating to a single fatality once every four-day period.
Latest Data
The military finalized data on custodial deaths for May 2024, and detention administration during September 2024. Analysts documented another 35 fatalities in custody after these periods and confirmed them with government bodies.
Despite the aggregate figure of fatalities recorded being significantly higher than previous assessments, it probably does not reflect the full scale of Palestinian loss, per the director of the prisoner monitoring division.
“Even though we are offering documentation for a greater figure of deaths than once estimated, this is an incomplete account,” he explained. “We are sure that there are still individuals who lost their lives in custody that we have not identified.”
Non-Combatant Fatalities
Confidential Israeli data shows that the majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who died in prison were ordinary citizens, based on a related investigation.
In May of the current year, a military intelligence database tracking all fighters in Gaza, a list of over 47,000 identified persons, documented just 21 fatalities in confinement. At that time, 65 Gazans from Gaza had died in jail.
Prison Situation
Brutality, abuse, and additional maltreatment of detainees from Palestine has been normalised across Israel’s prison network throughout 24 months of war. Top government figures have publicly referenced minimal sustenance and an subterranean prison confining detainees who never see daylight.
Existing and previous prisoners and informants from the defense forces have collectively claimed widespread breaches of global standards.
Systemic Abuse
The systematic abuse came with a alarming increase in fatalities registered across a minimum of 12 detention centers in Israel. During the previous decade preceding the war, there were on average several fatalities a year.
“This isn’t merely an isolated incident occasionally. It is institutional and it is expected to endure,” an official stated, in part because there is a environment of near total impunity for killing and mistreating Palestinian individuals.
Just one case of beating inmates has proceeded to court, with the soldier sentenced to seven months. An effort to prosecute others over a vicious assault involving abuse resulted in public rallies and the arrest of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the accused individuals now requesting that indictments against them be withdrawn.
Lack of Accountability
“Despite this significant total of fatalities, throughout the conflict no one has faced arrest,” the spokesperson stated. “There exist no charges over any killing.
“While these policies remain in effect, each Palestinian individual in confinement faces risk, including the physically well individuals, including the young ones who have no medical issues.”
Prominent Examples
Certain fatalities in detention have been publicly known, for instance a middle-aged medical chief who lost his life in confinement after 120 days in detention.
A detainee detained alongside the deceased testified that he was brought to the exercise area by guards just prior to his demise, visibly injured and naked from the waist down. His body has not been repatriated to Gaza.
Additional detainees who perished in detention in Israel are unidentified. Detention administrators and military provided investigators with the figure of deaths in custody, and minimal other details including the facility where they perished, but without the detainees’ identities.
Recognition Difficulties
For 21 instances, primarily individuals from Gaza, investigators were not able to match the few details provided by authorities to a death registered by advocacy bodies, either through statements from former inmates or accounts in the news outlets.
The detainees’ families could be unaware about their relatives’ casualties either, as Israel has created obstacles to track detainees it is confining. During 210 days at the start of the war, the Israeli military refused to supply fundamental details about the condition of many of individuals confined in Gaza, in effect implementing a approach of unacknowledged detention, per the human rights group.
Insufficient Disclosure
Starting in May 2024, officials have provided an digital correspondence for inquiries about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has led to just a partial and limited improvement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on
