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Per data released by Israel, at least 98 Palestinian individuals have died while in custody starting from October 2023. An advocacy organization operating from Israel has indicated that the real number is probably significantly greater, as a result of numerous of unaccounted for individuals in Gaza.

Report Findings

A recent report documented fatalities attributed to physical violence, failure to provide medical care, and starvation. Analysts utilized official data requests, medical examiner documents, and testimonies with attorneys, advocates, family members, and witnesses.

Israeli authorities disclosed detailed statistics limited to the initial 240 days of the conflict. Over this period, official figures reveal an unprecedented casualty rate among Palestinian detainees, equating to one death once every four-day period.

Latest Data

Official armed forces most recently revised information on detention fatalities for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Investigators identified a further 35 fatalities in detention following these timeframes and validated them with Israeli authorities.

Although the total number of fatalities recorded being substantially larger than previous assessments, it probably fails to capture the complete extent of Palestinian casualties, as stated by the head of the prisoner monitoring division.

“Although we are presenting proof for a larger total of fatalities than earlier indicated, this is an incomplete account,” he explained. “We are certain that there are yet detainees who perished in custody that we don’t know about.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Restricted official information indicates that the vast majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who perished in prison were ordinary citizens, based on a related inquiry.

By May of the current year, a military intelligence database following all militants in Gaza, a list of more than 47,000 identified persons, recorded just 21 fatalities in custody. By that date, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had perished in prison.

Prison Situation

Physical violence, torture, and further cruelty of Palestinian individuals has become routine across Israel’s jail system over two years of conflict. Senior officials have openly admitted starvation rations and an below-ground detention center holding Palestinians who are denied sunlight.

Current and former inmates and insiders from the defense forces have all alleged systemic violations of global standards.

Systemic Abuse

The systematic abuse occurred alongside a alarming increase in casualties documented across a minimum of 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. During the previous decade prior to the hostilities, there were usually two or three casualties a year.

“This does not represent only a single occurrence sporadically. It is institutional and it will continue,” an official said, partially since there is a environment of near total impunity for harming and abusing detainees.

Only a single instance of attacking inmates has reached litigation, with the service member given a penalty to half a year. An attempt to try other suspects over a severe beating involving assault caused public rallies and the detention of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the suspects now insisting that indictments against them be dismissed.

No Legal Action

“Regardless of this large quantity of casualties, throughout the conflict not one individual has been detained,” the official noted. “There have been no indictments over any fatality.

“As long as these policies continue to be enforced, every Palestinian in detention is at peril, even the physically well individuals, including the juveniles who have no underlying conditions.”

High-Profile Cases

Several casualties in custody have been widely reported, such as a senior medical chief who died in confinement after four months in confinement.

A prisoner held with the deceased testified that he was brought to the exercise area by correctional officers shortly before his death, clearly wounded and unclothed from the lower body. His remains remains unreleased to Gaza.

Further inmates who lost their lives in Israeli custody remain anonymous. The prison service and military supplied analysts with the figure of fatalities in detention, and minimal further data including the facility where they lost their lives, but without the prisoners’ names.

Documentation Problems

For 21 instances, primarily people from Gaza, investigators were unable to connect the limited information given by officials to a fatality recorded by advocacy bodies, via testimony from released detainees or coverage in the media.

The prisoners’ relatives might not have learned about their relatives’ casualties as well, as Israel has created obstacles to track Palestinians it is holding. Over half a year at the outset of the conflict, the Israeli military declined to give essential data about the status of many of individuals detained in Gaza, practically implementing a policy of unacknowledged detention, as stated by the human rights group.

Restricted Access

Beginning last May, officials have created an digital correspondence for requests about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has resulted in merely a incomplete and restricted betterment. Investigators noted|observed|commented on