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Based on information provided by Israel, at least 98 detainees from Palestine have perished while in custody since October 2023. An advocacy organization located in Israel has indicated that the real figure is almost certainly substantially greater, as a result of hundreds of unaccounted for individuals in Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation documented casualties resulting from physical violence, lack of healthcare, and malnutrition. Researchers employed freedom of information requests, autopsy findings, and discussions with legal representatives, human rights defenders, next of kin, and observers.

Israeli authorities disclosed detailed statistics only for the first eight months of the war. During this time, reported numbers reveal an unprecedented fatality rate among detained Palestinians, averaging a single fatality once every four-day period.

Latest Data

Israeli defense forces finalized data on custodial deaths for May 2024, and correctional authorities in September 2024. Analysts identified a further 35 deaths in detention after these timeframes and verified them with official sources.

Even with the overall count of fatalities documented being substantially larger than other recent estimates, it likely omits the complete extent of Palestinian casualties, as stated by the leader of the prisoners and detainees department.

“While we are presenting proof for a higher number of casualties than once estimated, this is not a full picture,” he explained. “We are certain that there are even now people who lost their lives in confinement that we don’t know about.”

Civilian Casualties

Restricted official information suggests that the vast majority of Palestinian detainees from Gaza who died in prison were ordinary citizens, per a parallel inquiry.

During May of 2024, a armed services record monitoring all militants in Gaza, a registry of more than 47,000 named individuals, recorded merely 21 casualties in confinement. By that point, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had perished in prison.

Detention Conditions

Physical violence, torture, and additional maltreatment of detainees from Palestine has been normalised across Israel’s detention facilities over the duration of war. Senior officials have openly admitted starvation rations and an underground jail holding detainees who never see daylight.

Existing and previous inmates and whistleblowers from the Israeli military have collectively claimed routine infractions of international law.

Organized Maltreatment

The institutionalised cruelty came with a disturbing rise in fatalities documented across a minimum of 12 prison sites in Israel. During the previous decade preceding the war, there were typically two or three casualties a year.

“This is not merely an isolated incident here and there. It is systemic and it will continue,” a representative commented, partially since there is a climate of almost complete immunity for fatalities and maltreatment of Palestinian individuals.

Only a single instance of beating inmates has come to trial, with the military personnel given a penalty to half a year. An effort to charge additional individuals over a vicious assault involving abuse led to political demonstrations and the detention of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the suspects now insisting that indictments against them be dismissed.

Absence of Consequences

“Despite this large quantity of deaths, during 24 months not a single person has been detained,” the official noted. “There are no indictments over any killing.

“During the time these practices remain in effect, each Palestinian individual in detention is in danger, even the healthy ones, including the young ones who have no medical issues.”

Notable Incidents

Certain fatalities in custody have been widely reported, including a senior hospital director who lost his life in prison after a third of a year in detention.

A detainee detained alongside the victim testified that he was led to the exercise area by guards shortly before his demise, clearly wounded and unclothed from the hips downward. His body remains unreleased to Gaza.

Other prisoners who perished in detention in Israel stay unnamed. Detention administrators and military supplied researchers with the figure of casualties in confinement, and limited additional information for example the location where they died, but excluding the prisoners’ names.

Recognition Difficulties

For 21 instances, mostly people from Gaza, investigators were not able to connect the few details supplied by officials to a fatality registered by rights organisations, either through testimony from freed prisoners or accounts in the media.

The prisoners’ relatives could be unaware about their relatives’ casualties also, as Israel has created obstacles to monitor detainees it is detaining. For seven months at the beginning of the hostilities, the Israeli military declined to supply fundamental details about the status of thousands of individuals confined in Gaza, practically implementing a approach of unacknowledged detention, per the human rights group.

Insufficient Disclosure

Starting in May 2024, officials have established an email address for inquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has provided only a modest and inadequate enhancement. Researchers noted|observed|commented on