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Based on information provided by Israel, at least 98 Palestinians have died during detention since October 2023. A human rights group operating from Israel has stated that the real toll is almost certainly significantly larger, because of numerous of unaccounted for people in Gaza.

Investigation Outcomes

A recent report recorded casualties caused by physical violence, lack of healthcare, and malnutrition. Investigators employed official data requests, medical examiner documents, and testimonies with attorneys, advocates, family members, and witnesses.

Israeli authorities disclosed complete statistics solely covering the first eight months of the war. Throughout these months, official figures reveal an record casualty rate among Palestinian prisoners, averaging a single fatality every four days.

Recent Figures

The military finalized information on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities during September 2024. Investigators identified another 35 deaths in custody after these timeframes and verified them with Israeli authorities.

Despite the overall count of casualties charted being significantly higher than previous assessments, it likely omits the entire scope of Palestinian loss, as stated by the director of the prisoners and detainees department.

“Even though we are offering documentation for a higher number of deaths than previously reported, this is not a full picture,” he said. “We are confident that there are yet people who died in detention that we are unaware of.”

Civilian Casualties

Confidential official information shows that the largest portion of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who died in jail were ordinary citizens, according to a parallel inquiry.

In May of this year, a defense forces registry tracking all combatants in Gaza, a registry of more than 47,000 listed people, recorded merely 21 deaths in custody. By that point, 65 Gazans from Gaza had lost their lives in prison.

Prison Situation

Physical violence, torture, and further cruelty of Palestinian individuals has been normalised across Israel’s jail system during 24 months of hostilities. Senior officials have publicly referenced starvation rations and an underground jail holding Palestinians who never see daylight.

Current and former prisoners and informants from the armed services have uniformly asserted widespread breaches of international law.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The institutionalised cruelty came with a troubling surge in deaths recorded across a minimum of 12 detention centers in Israel. In the decade before the conflict, there were on average several casualties a year.

“This isn’t only a single occurrence occasionally. It is institutional and it will continue,” a spokesperson stated, partially due to the fact there is a environment of virtual exemption from consequences for killing and mistreating Palestinian individuals.

Only a single instance of attacking detainees has come to trial, with the soldier given a penalty to 210 days. An attempt to try others over a brutal attack involving abuse resulted in political demonstrations and the apprehension of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the alleged perpetrators now insisting that allegations against them be withdrawn.

No Legal Action

“Despite this significant total of casualties, throughout the conflict not one individual has been detained,” the official stated. “There have been no charges over any killing.

“As long as these measures are being applied, each Palestinian individual in custody is in danger, also the physically well individuals, even the juveniles who have no medical issues.”

High-Profile Cases

Certain fatalities in custody have been widely reported, such as a senior hospital director who died in detention after 120 days in detention.

A prisoner incarcerated with the victim reported that he was taken to the courtyard by prison staff shortly before his death, obviously hurt and naked from the lower body. His corpse has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Other prisoners who died in confinement by Israeli authorities remain anonymous. The prison service and armed services provided researchers with the number of fatalities in confinement, and limited other details for example the location where they died, but excluding the inmates’ personal details.

Recognition Difficulties

For 21 instances, mainly detainees from Gaza, analysts could not to correlate the few details supplied by authorities to a death recorded by advocacy bodies, either through statements from freed prisoners or accounts in the press.

The inmates’ next of kin could be unaware about their loved ones’ deaths either, as Israel has made it difficult to monitor Palestinians it is holding. For seven months at the start of the conflict, the armed services declined to provide essential data about the whereabouts of thousands of persons held in Gaza, in effect enacting a approach of involuntary missing persons, per the human rights group.

Limited Transparency

From May 2024, government bodies have established an email address for enquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has resulted in merely a partial and limited improvement. Researchers noted|observed|commented on