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Based on information from Israel, no fewer than 98 Palestinians have perished while detained since October 2023. A human rights group based in Israel has indicated that the true toll is likely considerably higher, due to many of missing people originating in Gaza.

Study Results

A new investigation documented fatalities attributed to brutality, lack of healthcare, and starvation. Researchers used transparency petitions, medical examiner documents, and interviews with lawyers, activists, next of kin, and observers.

Israeli authorities provided complete data only for the initial 240 days of the conflict. Over this period, official figures reveal an unprecedented fatality rate among Palestinian prisoners, amounting to a single fatality each 96 hours.

Updated Statistics

The military most recently revised data on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities during September 2024. Investigators discovered an additional 35 casualties in custody following these dates and verified them with government bodies.

Despite the aggregate figure of fatalities documented being significantly higher than other recent estimates, it likely fails to capture the entire scope of Palestinian casualties, according to the leader of the prisoner monitoring division.

“While we are offering documentation for a larger total of casualties than once estimated, this is an incomplete account,” he explained. “We are certain that there are still detainees who died in custody that we don’t know about.”

Civilian Casualties

Restricted Israeli data suggests that the largest portion of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who perished in detention were ordinary citizens, according to a simultaneous inquiry.

In May of this year, a defense forces registry monitoring all militants in Gaza, a list of over 47,000 listed people, listed only 21 fatalities in confinement. By that date, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had perished in prison.

Custodial Environment

Physical violence, abuse, and further cruelty of Palestinians has been normalised across Israel’s prison network throughout two years of war. Senior officials have openly admitted minimal sustenance and an below-ground detention center confining Palestinian individuals who are denied sunlight.

Current and former prisoners and whistleblowers from the defense forces have all alleged systemic violations of human rights protocols.

Systemic Abuse

The systematic abuse came with a disturbing rise in fatalities registered across at least 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. During the previous decade preceding the war, there were on average several fatalities a year.

“This does not represent just an individual case here and there. It is widespread and it is likely to persist,” a representative said, in part since there is a culture of almost complete immunity for killing and mistreating Palestinians.

Only a single instance of assaulting detainees has proceeded to court, with the soldier handed a punishment to seven months. A endeavor to prosecute additional individuals over a vicious assault involving abuse caused public rallies and the arrest of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the accused individuals now demanding that indictments against them be withdrawn.

Lack of Accountability

“Regardless of this significant total of fatalities, throughout the conflict not one individual has been arrested,” the representative noted. “There are no prosecutions over any fatality.

“As long as these policies are being applied, all Palestinian detainees in detention is at peril, also the those in good health, also the youth who have no medical issues.”

Prominent Examples

Certain fatalities in confinement have been high profile, such as a senior medical chief who perished in prison after four months in confinement.

A detainee detained alongside the individual testified that he was taken to the yard by prison staff immediately preceding his death, visibly injured and exposed from the lower body. His remains has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Further inmates who died in Israeli custody remain anonymous. The prison service and armed services provided investigators with the number of deaths in confinement, and limited further data such as the location where they perished, but excluding the inmates’ personal details.

Recognition Difficulties

Regarding 21 occurrences, mostly individuals from Gaza, analysts were unable to correlate the minimal data supplied by government bodies to a fatality registered by human rights groups, either through testimony from former inmates or coverage in the press.

The prisoners’ relatives may not know about their family members’ fatalities also, as Israel has impeded efforts to track detainees it is detaining. For seven months at the outset of the hostilities, the armed services refused to provide basic information about the condition of many of individuals detained in Gaza, in effect implementing a practice of involuntary missing persons, per the rights monitoring body.

Limited Transparency

Beginning last May, authorities have established an electronic contact for requests about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has led to just a partial and limited improvement. Investigators noted|observed|commented on