At Least 98 Palestinian Detainees Have Died in Israeli Custody Beginning in October 2023, Statistics from Israel Reveals
According to data provided by Israel, a minimum of 98 detainees from Palestine have lost their lives while in custody beginning in October 2023. An advocacy organization based in Israel has reported that the actual number is probably substantially higher, due to numerous of missing people originating in Gaza.
Investigation Outcomes
A new investigation tracked casualties caused by physical violence, lack of healthcare, and starvation. Investigators utilized freedom of information requests, medical examiner documents, and testimonies with lawyers, advocates, relatives, and observers.
Official sources provided complete statistics solely covering the first eight months of the hostilities. Over this period, official figures indicate an historically high death toll among Palestinian detainees, equating to one death every four days.
Updated Statistics
Official armed forces finalized information on deaths in detention for May 2024, and correctional authorities in September 2024. Investigators identified another 35 fatalities in custody subsequent to these timeframes and confirmed them with Israeli authorities.
Although the overall count of fatalities documented being much greater than earlier projections, it almost certainly omits the complete extent of Palestinian loss, according to the leader of the prisoners and detainees department.
“Although we are providing evidence for a higher number of fatalities than earlier indicated, this is not a full picture,” he said. “We are confident that there are still people who perished in detention that we have not identified.”
Civilian Casualties
Restricted government records shows that the largest portion of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who perished in jail were non-combatants, per a related investigation.
By May of 2024, a military intelligence database tracking all militants in Gaza, a registry of over 47,000 named individuals, documented just 21 fatalities in custody. At that time, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had perished in prison.
Prison Situation
Assault, torture, and additional maltreatment of detainees from Palestine is now standard practice across Israel’s prison network over two years of war. High-ranking authorities have publicly acknowledged inadequate food and an underground jail holding detainees who never see daylight.
Current and former prisoners and informants from the Israeli military have uniformly asserted systemic violations of international law.
Systemic Abuse
The organized mistreatment came with a troubling surge in casualties recorded across at least 12 prison sites in Israel. During the previous decade preceding the hostilities, there were usually a couple deaths a year.
“This isn’t merely an isolated incident sporadically. It is systemic and it is likely to persist,” an official stated, in part because there is a climate of near total impunity for harming and abusing Palestinians.
Only a single instance of assaulting prisoners has reached litigation, with the soldier handed a punishment to half a year. An attempt to prosecute others over a brutal attack featuring assault caused political demonstrations and the arrest of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the alleged perpetrators now requesting that indictments against them be withdrawn.
Lack of Accountability
“In spite of this mass number of deaths, over two years not a single person has been arrested,” the official said. “There are no indictments over any fatality.
“As long as these measures remain in effect, each Palestinian individual in custody faces risk, including the healthy ones, also the youth who have no health problems.”
Notable Incidents
Several casualties in confinement have been high profile, for instance a senior healthcare leader who lost his life in prison after 120 days in custody.
A detainee detained alongside the deceased testified that he was led to the exercise area by correctional officers just prior to his death, visibly injured and naked from the hips downward. His corpse remains unreleased to Gaza.
Other prisoners who perished in confinement by Israeli authorities are unidentified. Detention administrators and defense forces gave analysts with the number of deaths in detention, and limited further data such as the location where they died, but not the prisoners’ names.
Documentation Problems
In 21 cases, primarily individuals from Gaza, analysts were unable to match the minimal data provided by officials to a fatality registered by advocacy bodies, either through accounts from freed prisoners or accounts in the media.
The detainees’ families might not have learned about their relatives’ casualties either, as Israel has impeded efforts to track Palestinian individuals it is detaining. During 210 days at the outset of the conflict, the defense forces would not provide to provide essential data about the status of thousands of people detained in Gaza, practically implementing a practice of involuntary missing persons, per the rights monitoring body.
Limited Transparency
Starting in May 2024, government bodies have established an email address for enquiries about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited betterment. Investigators noted|observed|commented on
