No Fewer Than 98 Palestinian Individuals Have Died in Custody Starting From October 2023, Official Figures Shows
Per information from Israel, a minimum of 98 detainees from Palestine have lost their lives during detention since October 2023. A rights monitoring body operating from Israel has reported that the real number is almost certainly significantly higher, due to hundreds of missing individuals from Gaza.
Study Results
An updated study recorded deaths caused by physical violence, medical neglect, and inadequate nutrition. Investigators used transparency petitions, medical examiner documents, and interviews with lawyers, advocates, next of kin, and eyewitnesses.
Government bodies disclosed complete statistics only for the initial 240 days of the hostilities. Over this period, official figures reveal an unprecedented casualty rate among Palestinian detainees, equating to one death once every four-day period.
Recent Figures
The military finalized information on deaths in detention for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Investigators discovered an additional 35 casualties in detention subsequent to these dates and verified them with Israeli authorities.
Even with the total number of casualties recorded being much greater than other recent estimates, it probably does not reflect the complete extent of losses among Palestinians, as stated by the director of the prisoners and detainees department.
“While we are presenting proof for a larger total of deaths than previously reported, this is not the entire story,” he stated. “We are confident that there are still people who perished in custody that we don’t know about.”
Civilian Casualties
Classified Israeli data suggests that the vast majority of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who perished in jail were ordinary citizens, based on a parallel investigation.
By May of 2024, a armed services record monitoring all fighters in Gaza, a list of more than 47,000 listed people, listed merely 21 casualties in custody. At that time, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had died in jail.
Detention Conditions
Physical violence, torture, and further cruelty of Palestinian individuals has been normalised across Israel’s prison network over the duration of war. High-ranking authorities have openly admitted starvation rations and an subterranean prison confining Palestinian individuals who never see daylight.
Current and former inmates and insiders from the Israeli military have all alleged widespread breaches of human rights protocols.
Organized Maltreatment
The institutionalised cruelty came with a disturbing rise in fatalities recorded across at least 12 detention centers in Israel. Over ten years prior to the conflict, there were typically a couple fatalities a year.
“This isn’t merely an isolated incident sporadically. It is widespread and it will continue,” a spokesperson commented, in part since there is a culture of almost complete immunity for harming and abusing detainees.
Only a single instance of assaulting inmates has proceeded to court, with the service member sentenced to half a year. An effort to try other suspects over a vicious assault including assault resulted in right-wing protests and the arrest of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the alleged perpetrators now insisting that indictments against them be withdrawn.
Lack of Accountability
“Regardless of this significant total of casualties, during 24 months not one individual has been arrested,” the official said. “There exist no charges over any fatality.
“During the time these measures continue to be enforced, each Palestinian individual in custody is at peril, even the physically well individuals, including the juveniles who have no medical issues.”
Prominent Examples
Some deaths in confinement have been publicly known, for instance a 50-year-old healthcare leader who died in confinement after a third of a year in confinement.
A prisoner incarcerated with the deceased testified that he was led to the yard by correctional officers just prior to his death, visibly injured and unclothed from the waist down. His body has not been repatriated to Gaza.
Additional detainees who perished in confinement by Israeli authorities remain anonymous. Detention administrators and armed services gave researchers with the figure of fatalities in custody, and limited further data including the location where they died, but not the inmates’ personal details.
Documentation Problems
Regarding 21 occurrences, mostly people from Gaza, researchers could not to correlate the minimal data given by government bodies to a casualty registered by advocacy bodies, via statements from former inmates or coverage in the media.
The inmates’ next of kin may not know about their loved ones’ deaths also, as Israel has created obstacles to track Palestinian individuals it is detaining. During 210 days at the outset of the war, the defense forces would not provide to give basic information about the whereabouts of numerous of persons detained in Gaza, effectively implementing a practice of unacknowledged detention, according to the rights monitoring body.
Insufficient Disclosure
From May 2024, authorities have provided an digital correspondence for inquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited betterment. Researchers noted|observed|commented on