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Based on information from Israel, no fewer than 98 Palestinians have died while detained beginning in October 2023. An advocacy organization operating from Israel has stated that the true figure is likely substantially greater, due to many of disappeared individuals from Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation documented fatalities attributed to assault, lack of healthcare, and starvation. Analysts utilized official data requests, forensic reports, and interviews with legal representatives, activists, family members, and observers.

Official sources released comprehensive information solely covering the initial 240 days of the war. Over this period, official figures indicate an unprecedented death toll among detained Palestinians, amounting to a single fatality every four days.

Recent Figures

The military last updated information on deaths in detention for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Investigators discovered an additional 35 deaths in detention subsequent to these periods and verified them with Israeli authorities.

Although the total number of deaths charted being much greater than earlier projections, it likely omits the full scale of Palestinian loss, as stated by the head of the prisoner monitoring division.

“Although we are presenting proof for a greater figure of casualties than previously reported, this is an incomplete account,” he explained. “We are confident that there are even now individuals who perished in custody that we have not identified.”

Civilian Deaths

Classified government records suggests that the vast majority of incarcerated Palestinians from Gaza who lost their lives in prison were non-combatants, per a simultaneous investigation.

During May of 2024, a military intelligence database following all fighters in Gaza, a roster of over 47,000 named individuals, documented only 21 casualties in detention. At that time, 65 Palestinians from Gaza had perished in detention.

Custodial Environment

Brutality, torture, and additional maltreatment of detainees from Palestine has become routine across Israel’s jail system throughout 24 months of hostilities. Senior officials have publicly referenced starvation rations and an below-ground detention center detaining Palestinians who are denied sunlight.

Existing and previous detainees and informants from the Israeli military have collectively claimed widespread breaches of global standards.

Organized Maltreatment

The systematic abuse came with a troubling surge in deaths registered across a minimum of 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. Over ten years preceding the hostilities, there were on average a couple deaths a year.

“This does not represent only a single occurrence here and there. It is widespread and it will continue,” an official stated, partially due to the fact there is a climate of almost complete immunity for harming and abusing detainees.

Merely one incident of beating inmates has come to trial, with the military personnel sentenced to half a year. An attempt to prosecute other suspects over a severe beating featuring assault caused right-wing protests and the apprehension of Israel’s top military lawyer, with the alleged perpetrators now insisting that allegations against them be withdrawn.

No Legal Action

“Regardless of this large quantity of deaths, during 24 months no one has been arrested,” the representative stated. “There exist no prosecutions over any fatality.

“During the time these measures are being applied, each Palestinian individual in confinement is in danger, even the those in good health, also the young ones who have no health problems.”

Prominent Examples

Some deaths in detention have been high profile, such as a senior medical chief who died in prison after 120 days in detention.

An inmate incarcerated with the deceased stated that he was brought to the yard by prison staff immediately preceding his passing, visibly injured and naked from the waist down. His body has not been returned to Gaza.

Other prisoners who lost their lives in confinement by Israeli authorities remain anonymous. Correctional authorities and military gave investigators with the number of deaths in detention, and basic additional information including the facility where they died, but without the prisoners’ names.

Documentation Problems

In 21 cases, primarily people from Gaza, analysts were not able to match the few details provided by government bodies to a casualty documented by rights organisations, by means of testimony from released detainees or coverage in the press.

The detainees’ families may not know about their family members’ fatalities either, as Israel has impeded efforts to monitor Palestinian individuals it is holding. Over half a year at the outset of the war, the defense forces would not provide to provide essential data about the whereabouts of many of individuals confined in Gaza, practically carrying out a policy of forced disappearance, as stated by the rights monitoring body.

Limited Transparency

Starting in May 2024, government bodies have provided an electronic contact for inquiries about Palestinian individuals from Gaza, but this has led to just a incomplete and restricted enhancement. Investigators noted|observed|commented on