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Per figures released by Israel, at least 98 Palestinian individuals have perished during detention since October 2023. A rights monitoring body operating from Israel has reported that the actual number is likely substantially higher, as a result of many of missing detainees in Gaza.

Investigation Outcomes

A new investigation documented deaths resulting from assault, medical neglect, and starvation. Researchers employed freedom of information requests, forensic reports, and discussions with legal representatives, activists, relatives, and witnesses.

Israeli authorities provided comprehensive statistics limited to the initial 240 days of the hostilities. Throughout these months, official figures show an historically high casualty rate among Palestinian detainees, equating to a single fatality once every four-day period.

Updated Statistics

Official armed forces finalized data on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Investigators identified a further 35 casualties in detention after these periods and verified them with Israeli authorities.

Despite the aggregate figure of casualties documented being significantly higher than previous assessments, it likely fails to capture the full scale of Palestinian casualties, according to the director of the detainee affairs unit.

“Although we are offering documentation for a higher number of deaths than previously reported, this is an incomplete account,” he explained. “We are sure that there are still individuals who lost their lives in detention that we have not identified.”

Civilian Deaths

Confidential official information indicates that the vast majority of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who perished in prison were civilians, according to a simultaneous examination.

During May of 2024, a defense forces registry tracking all fighters in Gaza, a roster of over 47,000 identified persons, listed just 21 casualties in detention. By that date, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had died in jail.

Custodial Environment

Physical violence, mistreatment, and other abuse of detainees from Palestine has become routine across Israel’s detention facilities during 24 months of hostilities. High-ranking authorities have publicly referenced inadequate food and an underground jail detaining Palestinian individuals who are denied sunlight.

Existing and previous inmates and informants from the Israeli military have all alleged widespread breaches of human rights protocols.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The institutionalised cruelty came with a disturbing rise in casualties documented across no fewer than 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. During the previous decade preceding the conflict, there were on average two or three fatalities a year.

“This is not just an individual case occasionally. It is systemic and it will continue,” an official said, partially since there is a climate of virtual exemption from consequences for fatalities and maltreatment of Palestinian individuals.

Merely one incident of assaulting inmates has come to trial, with the service member sentenced to half a year. An attempt to prosecute other suspects over a vicious assault including sexual violence led to right-wing protests and the arrest of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the alleged perpetrators now requesting that allegations against them be withdrawn.

No Legal Action

“In spite of this large quantity of casualties, throughout the conflict not one individual has faced arrest,” the official noted. “There have been no prosecutions over any fatality.

“As long as these policies continue to be enforced, each Palestinian individual in confinement faces risk, even the those in good health, including the young ones who have no health problems.”

Notable Incidents

Several casualties in detention have been high profile, for instance a senior medical chief who perished in prison after 120 days in confinement.

A detainee detained alongside the individual reported that he was led to the yard by guards shortly before his demise, obviously hurt and unclothed from the hips downward. His remains has not been returned to Gaza.

Further inmates who died in confinement by Israeli authorities are unidentified. The prison service and defense forces supplied researchers with the number of deaths in custody, and basic other details such as the facility where they lost their lives, but not the detainees’ identities.

Documentation Problems

Regarding 21 occurrences, primarily people from Gaza, investigators could not to connect the limited information given by officials to a casualty recorded by advocacy bodies, via statements from freed prisoners or accounts in the news outlets.

The detainees’ families might not have learned about their relatives’ casualties as well, as Israel has made it difficult to monitor Palestinians it is confining. Over half a year at the beginning of the war, the defense forces would not provide to give essential data about the status of thousands of persons detained in Gaza, effectively enacting a policy of unacknowledged detention, as stated by the advocacy organization.

Restricted Access

Starting in May 2024, officials have created an digital correspondence for inquiries about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has provided only a modest and inadequate improvement. Investigators noted|observed|commented on