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Per information from Israel, a minimum of 98 Palestinian individuals have died during detention starting from October 2023. A human rights group operating from Israel has indicated that the actual figure is almost certainly significantly higher, because of hundreds of disappeared people originating in Gaza.

Study Results

A new investigation documented casualties attributed to assault, medical neglect, and inadequate nutrition. Investigators used official data requests, forensic reports, and testimonies with lawyers, activists, family members, and witnesses.

Israeli authorities provided complete statistics solely covering the first eight months of the conflict. Over this period, official figures reveal an historically high casualty rate among Palestinian prisoners, equating to a single fatality each 96 hours.

Updated Statistics

Official armed forces most recently revised records on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Analysts documented another 35 deaths in custody following these timeframes and validated them with official sources.

Even with the total number of casualties charted being substantially larger than earlier projections, it almost certainly fails to capture the entire scope of Palestinian loss, per the head of the detainee affairs unit.

“Even though we are offering documentation for a greater figure of fatalities than previously reported, this is not the entire story,” he explained. “We are confident that there are even now individuals who died in confinement that we don’t know about.”

Civilian Deaths

Restricted official information indicates that the majority of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who died in jail were non-combatants, per a simultaneous inquiry.

By May of 2024, a defense forces registry following all militants in Gaza, a registry of over 47,000 listed people, recorded only 21 deaths in detention. By that date, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had perished in prison.

Custodial Environment

Physical violence, torture, and additional maltreatment of detainees from Palestine has become routine across Israel’s detention facilities throughout two years of hostilities. Top government figures have publicly acknowledged starvation rations and an subterranean prison detaining Palestinians who never see daylight.

Present and past detainees and informants from the Israeli military have all alleged widespread breaches of international law.

Systemic Abuse

The systematic abuse was accompanied by a disturbing rise in casualties documented across at least 12 prison sites in Israel. During the previous decade before the conflict, there were usually two or three deaths a year.

“This does not represent just an individual case occasionally. It is systemic and it is likely to persist,” an official stated, in part because there is a environment of near total impunity for harming and abusing Palestinians.

Just one case of attacking detainees has come to trial, with the service member sentenced to seven months. An attempt to try additional individuals over a brutal attack including abuse caused political demonstrations and the arrest of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the accused individuals now insisting that charges against them be dismissed.

Absence of Consequences

“Regardless of this mass number of deaths, over two years no one has been arrested,” the official noted. “There have been no indictments over any fatality.

“As long as these policies remain in effect, all Palestinian detainees in detention is in danger, even the those in good health, even the young ones who have no medical issues.”

High-Profile Cases

Some deaths in confinement have been high profile, for instance a senior medical chief who perished in prison after 120 days in custody.

A prisoner held with the individual stated that he was brought to the exercise area by correctional officers just prior to his death, obviously hurt and naked from the waist down. His corpse remains unreleased to Gaza.

Additional detainees who lost their lives in detention in Israel stay unnamed. Detention administrators and armed services supplied analysts with the number of fatalities in detention, and basic further data including the location where they died, but without the detainees’ identities.

Recognition Difficulties

For 21 instances, mostly people from Gaza, investigators were not able to correlate the few details provided by government bodies to a death recorded by advocacy bodies, either through accounts from freed prisoners or accounts in the news outlets.

The inmates’ next of kin could be unaware about their family members’ fatalities either, as Israel has impeded efforts to track Palestinians it is holding. For seven months at the beginning of the conflict, the defense forces declined to provide basic information about the condition of numerous of people detained in Gaza, practically enacting a policy of forced disappearance, as stated by the rights monitoring body.

Restricted Access

From May 2024, officials have provided an electronic contact for inquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited enhancement. Investigators noted|observed|commented on