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Per information provided by Israel, a minimum of 98 detainees from Palestine have perished while detained beginning in October 2023. An advocacy organization based in Israel has indicated that the actual number is likely substantially higher, as a result of many of disappeared people originating in Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation recorded fatalities resulting from assault, failure to provide medical care, and malnutrition. Analysts employed transparency petitions, forensic reports, and testimonies with legal representatives, human rights defenders, relatives, and observers.

Israeli authorities disclosed detailed data limited to the first eight months of the war. Throughout these months, reported numbers reveal an historically high casualty rate among Palestinian prisoners, equating to a single fatality once every four-day period.

Latest Data

The military finalized records on detention fatalities for May 2024, and the prison service in September 2024. Analysts documented another 35 deaths in confinement after these timeframes and confirmed them with Israeli authorities.

Although the overall count of casualties documented being significantly higher than previous assessments, it likely fails to capture the entire scope of losses among Palestinians, as stated by the leader of the detainee affairs unit.

“Although we are offering documentation for a higher number of deaths than earlier indicated, this is not a full picture,” he explained. “We are certain that there are still detainees who perished in confinement that we have not identified.”

Civilian Casualties

Confidential official information suggests that the majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who died in jail were civilians, per a parallel investigation.

In May of 2024, a military intelligence database following all fighters in Gaza, a list of in excess of 47,000 listed people, listed only 21 deaths in confinement. By that point, 65 Gazans from Gaza had lost their lives in detention.

Detention Conditions

Brutality, torture, and other abuse of Palestinians is now standard practice across Israel’s jail system over 24 months of conflict. Senior officials have openly admitted inadequate food and an below-ground detention center confining Palestinians who never see daylight.

Existing and previous prisoners and whistleblowers from the armed services have all alleged systemic violations of global standards.

Organized Maltreatment

The systematic abuse occurred alongside a disturbing rise in fatalities recorded across a minimum of 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. Over ten years before the conflict, there were on average a couple fatalities a year.

“This is not only a single occurrence sporadically. It is systemic and it is likely to persist,” a representative stated, partly because there is a climate of near total impunity for harming and abusing Palestinian individuals.

Only a single instance of beating detainees has reached litigation, with the service member given a penalty to half a year. An attempt to try others over a brutal attack featuring assault resulted in right-wing protests and the arrest of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the suspects now demanding that charges against them be dismissed.

Lack of Accountability

“In spite of this large quantity of deaths, during 24 months not one individual has faced arrest,” the representative said. “There are no charges over any death.

“During the time these policies remain in effect, all Palestinian detainees in custody faces risk, also the healthy ones, even the juveniles who have no medical issues.”

Notable Incidents

Some deaths in custody have been widely reported, including a 50-year-old hospital director who lost his life in detention after 120 days in detention.

A prisoner held with the victim reported that he was taken to the exercise area by guards immediately preceding his demise, obviously hurt and naked from the hips downward. His corpse remains unreleased to Gaza.

Other prisoners who perished in detention in Israel are unidentified. Correctional authorities and military provided analysts with the number of casualties in custody, and minimal additional information such as the location where they died, but excluding the inmates’ personal details.

Documentation Problems

For 21 instances, mainly individuals from Gaza, investigators were unable to connect the limited information supplied by government bodies to a fatality registered by human rights groups, by means of statements from former inmates or reporting in the media.

The prisoners’ relatives might not have learned about their relatives’ casualties either, as Israel has impeded efforts to monitor Palestinians it is holding. For seven months at the outset of the war, the Israeli military would not provide to supply basic information about the status of thousands of people held in Gaza, practically enacting a practice of involuntary missing persons, as stated by the human rights group.

Restricted Access

Starting in May 2024, officials have created an digital correspondence for requests about detainees from Gaza, but this has provided only a incomplete and restricted improvement. Researchers noted|observed|commented on