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Per figures from Israel, at least 98 detainees from Palestine have died while in custody since October 2023. A rights monitoring body located in Israel has stated that the real number is almost certainly considerably larger, as a result of many of missing people from Gaza.

Investigation Outcomes

An updated study recorded casualties caused by assault, medical neglect, and malnutrition. Investigators used freedom of information requests, medical examiner documents, and discussions with legal representatives, activists, next of kin, and witnesses.

Official sources released detailed statistics limited to the initial 240 days of the war. During this time, reported numbers show an record death toll among Palestinian detainees, amounting to a life lost every four days.

Latest Data

The military most recently revised data on detention fatalities for May 2024, and detention administration by September 2024. Analysts identified another 35 casualties in detention after these dates and validated them with official sources.

Even with the total number of casualties documented being significantly higher than previous assessments, it probably does not reflect the entire scope of Palestinian loss, according to the head of the prisoner monitoring division.

“Although we are presenting proof for a higher number of fatalities than previously reported, this is not the entire story,” he explained. “We are certain that there are even now individuals who lost their lives in confinement that we are unaware of.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Restricted official information suggests that the majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who died in prison were ordinary citizens, per a parallel investigation.

During May of 2024, a defense forces registry following all fighters in Gaza, a roster of more than 47,000 identified persons, documented only 21 fatalities in custody. By that date, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had lost their lives in prison.

Detention Conditions

Brutality, abuse, and additional maltreatment of Palestinian individuals is now standard practice across Israel’s jail system over 24 months of hostilities. Top government figures have publicly referenced inadequate food and an below-ground detention center confining detainees who are denied sunlight.

Existing and previous detainees and informants from the defense forces have all alleged systemic violations of human rights protocols.

Systemic Abuse

The organized mistreatment came with a troubling surge in deaths documented across a minimum of 12 prison sites in Israel. In the decade prior to the conflict, there were on average a couple deaths a year.

“This does not represent merely an isolated incident sporadically. It is institutional and it is likely to persist,” a representative said, in part because there is a culture of near total impunity for harming and abusing Palestinians.

Only a single instance of beating prisoners has come to trial, with the military personnel sentenced to half a year. An attempt to try additional individuals over a brutal attack featuring abuse led to political demonstrations and the arrest of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the accused individuals now requesting that allegations against them be withdrawn.

Lack of Accountability

“Despite this mass number of casualties, throughout the conflict not one individual has been arrested,” the spokesperson noted. “There exist no indictments over any fatality.

“During the time these policies are being applied, all Palestinian detainees in detention faces risk, including the healthy ones, even the juveniles who have no underlying conditions.”

High-Profile Cases

Certain fatalities in custody have been publicly known, such as a senior hospital director who died in confinement after a third of a year in confinement.

An inmate held with the victim reported that he was taken to the courtyard by prison staff immediately preceding his passing, clearly wounded and naked from the lower body. His body remains unreleased to Gaza.

Other prisoners who perished in confinement by Israeli authorities are unidentified. Correctional authorities and defense forces supplied investigators with the number of fatalities in detention, and limited additional information for example the facility where they perished, but excluding the detainees’ identities.

Identification Challenges

In 21 cases, mainly individuals from Gaza, analysts were unable to correlate the minimal data given by authorities to a fatality documented by human rights groups, via statements from former inmates or reporting in the press.

The prisoners’ relatives might not have learned about their relatives’ casualties as well, as Israel has impeded efforts to locate Palestinian individuals it is holding. During 210 days at the outset of the conflict, the armed services declined to provide basic information about the whereabouts of thousands of persons detained in Gaza, practically enacting a approach of forced disappearance, according to the advocacy organization.

Restricted Access

From May 2024, government bodies have provided an email address for requests about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has resulted in merely a modest and inadequate betterment. Analysts noted|observed|commented on