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Based on information from Israel, no fewer than 98 Palestinian individuals have died during detention since October 2023. A rights monitoring body located in Israel has stated that the real toll is almost certainly considerably higher, because of hundreds of unaccounted for individuals from Gaza.

Investigation Outcomes

An updated study documented fatalities caused by brutality, medical neglect, and starvation. Investigators used transparency petitions, autopsy findings, and discussions with lawyers, activists, next of kin, and witnesses.

Israeli authorities released complete statistics only for the first eight months of the hostilities. During this time, reported numbers reveal an unprecedented casualty rate among detained Palestinians, amounting to a single fatality once every four-day period.

Updated Statistics

Israeli defense forces most recently revised data on custodial deaths for May 2024, and correctional authorities by September 2024. Researchers identified an additional 35 deaths in confinement after these periods and verified them with official sources.

Even with the overall count of casualties recorded being much greater than other recent estimates, it probably omits the complete extent of losses among Palestinians, per the director of the prisoner monitoring division.

“While we are offering documentation for a greater figure of deaths than once estimated, this is not the entire story,” he explained. “We are certain that there are still individuals who died in confinement that we have not identified.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Confidential government records shows that the vast majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who perished in detention were non-combatants, based on a parallel investigation.

In May of 2024, a armed services record monitoring all militants in Gaza, a roster of over 47,000 listed people, documented merely 21 deaths in confinement. By that date, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had lost their lives in detention.

Prison Situation

Brutality, abuse, and additional maltreatment of Palestinians is now standard practice across Israel’s jail system throughout the duration of war. Senior officials have publicly acknowledged inadequate food and an underground jail holding Palestinian individuals who are kept in darkness.

Present and past prisoners and informants from the Israeli military have all alleged widespread breaches of global standards.

Institutionalized Cruelty

The systematic abuse occurred alongside a alarming increase in casualties recorded across a minimum of 12 detention centers in Israel. In the decade before the hostilities, there were typically a couple fatalities a year.

“This isn’t merely an isolated incident here and there. It is systemic and it is likely to persist,” a spokesperson stated, partly due to the fact there is a environment of near total impunity for fatalities and maltreatment of Palestinians.

Only a single instance of attacking detainees has proceeded to court, with the military personnel handed a punishment to half a year. An attempt to prosecute others over a brutal attack involving assault led to political demonstrations and the arrest of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the alleged perpetrators now demanding that charges against them are dropped.

No Legal Action

“In spite of this large quantity of casualties, throughout the conflict not a single person has been detained,” the official noted. “There have been no prosecutions over any fatality.

“During the time these measures continue to be enforced, all Palestinian detainees in custody is at peril, also the physically well individuals, including the juveniles who have no underlying conditions.”

Notable Incidents

Several casualties in confinement have been publicly known, for instance a middle-aged hospital director who died in prison after four months in detention.

A prisoner held with the victim stated that he was taken to the courtyard by guards shortly before his demise, obviously hurt and exposed from the waist down. His corpse has not been repatriated to Gaza.

Other prisoners who lost their lives in confinement by Israeli authorities stay unnamed. Detention administrators and defense forces provided investigators with the figure of fatalities in detention, and limited further data including the site where they perished, but not the inmates’ personal details.

Documentation Problems

In 21 cases, mainly individuals from Gaza, researchers were not able to match the limited information provided by government bodies to a casualty recorded by advocacy bodies, by means of testimony from released detainees or reporting in the press.

The inmates’ next of kin may not know about their loved ones’ deaths as well, as Israel has made it difficult to monitor Palestinians it is holding. Over half a year at the beginning of the hostilities, the armed services would not provide to give basic information about the whereabouts of thousands of persons held in Gaza, effectively enacting a practice of involuntary missing persons, according to the human rights group.

Restricted Access

Starting in May 2024, government bodies have created an email address for requests about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has provided only a modest and inadequate enhancement. Investigators noted|observed|commented on