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Based on information from Israel, at least 98 Palestinian individuals have died while detained beginning in October 2023. An advocacy organization operating from Israel has indicated that the true toll is almost certainly substantially larger, due to numerous of unaccounted for individuals in Gaza.

Report Findings

An updated study tracked fatalities resulting from physical violence, lack of healthcare, and starvation. Analysts employed official data requests, forensic reports, and discussions with legal representatives, human rights defenders, next of kin, and eyewitnesses.

Official sources released complete statistics only for the initial 240 days of the war. Throughout these months, government statistics reveal an historically high fatality rate among detained Palestinians, equating to a single fatality each 96 hours.

Latest Data

Official armed forces last updated information on custodial deaths for May 2024, and correctional authorities in September 2024. Researchers identified another 35 deaths in custody subsequent to these timeframes and validated them with government bodies.

Although the total number of deaths recorded being much greater than previous assessments, it likely does not reflect the entire scope of Palestinian casualties, per the leader of the detainee affairs unit.

“While we are presenting proof for a greater figure of casualties than previously reported, this is an incomplete account,” he explained. “We are sure that there are even now individuals who perished in confinement that we are unaware of.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Confidential official information suggests that the vast majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who lost their lives in jail were ordinary citizens, according to a related investigation.

By May of 2024, a defense forces registry following all combatants in Gaza, a registry of over 47,000 named individuals, listed just 21 deaths in detention. By that point, 65 Gazans from Gaza had lost their lives in prison.

Prison Situation

Brutality, mistreatment, and other abuse of detainees from Palestine has been normalised across Israel’s detention facilities throughout 24 months of war. High-ranking authorities have openly admitted starvation rations and an underground jail holding Palestinians who are denied sunlight.

Current and former detainees and whistleblowers from the defense forces have all alleged routine infractions of human rights protocols.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The institutionalised cruelty was accompanied by a disturbing rise in casualties registered across at least 12 prison sites in Israel. During the previous decade preceding the war, there were usually a couple deaths a year.

“This is not just an individual case sporadically. It is systemic and it will continue,” a spokesperson commented, in part because there is a environment of near total impunity for fatalities and maltreatment of Palestinian individuals.

Merely one incident of assaulting inmates has proceeded to court, with the soldier given a penalty to half a year. An attempt to prosecute others over a vicious assault featuring assault resulted in political demonstrations and the detention of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the accused individuals now requesting that charges against them be dismissed.

No Legal Action

“In spite of this mass number of deaths, during 24 months not a single person has been detained,” the official said. “There are no prosecutions over any death.

“As long as these policies continue to be enforced, each Palestinian individual in custody is at peril, including the healthy ones, also the youth who have no underlying conditions.”

High-Profile Cases

Several casualties in confinement have been widely reported, for instance a middle-aged healthcare leader who died in prison after four months in detention.

A detainee detained alongside the individual reported that he was brought to the courtyard by prison staff just prior to his demise, obviously hurt and unclothed from the waist down. His remains has not been returned to Gaza.

Additional detainees who perished in detention in Israel remain anonymous. Correctional authorities and defense forces gave analysts with the figure of casualties in detention, and limited additional information for example the site where they perished, but excluding the detainees’ identities.

Recognition Difficulties

In 21 cases, mostly detainees from Gaza, investigators could not to correlate the few details provided by officials to a casualty documented by human rights groups, via testimony from freed prisoners or coverage in the press.

The inmates’ next of kin might not have learned about their loved ones’ deaths as well, as Israel has created obstacles to locate detainees it is confining. Over half a year at the start of the conflict, the defense forces would not provide to give essential data about the whereabouts of many of individuals confined in Gaza, practically carrying out a practice of involuntary missing persons, according to the human rights group.

Insufficient Disclosure

Beginning last May, authorities have created an email address for requests about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has provided only a partial and limited enhancement. Analysts noted|observed|commented on