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Based on data from Israel, a minimum of 98 detainees from Palestine have died while detained starting from October 2023. An advocacy organization located in Israel has stated that the actual toll is probably substantially higher, because of many of unaccounted for individuals from Gaza.

Investigation Outcomes

A new investigation documented deaths attributed to physical violence, lack of healthcare, and inadequate nutrition. Investigators utilized transparency petitions, medical examiner documents, and testimonies with attorneys, activists, family members, and eyewitnesses.

Official sources released complete statistics solely covering the opening period of the war. Over this period, reported numbers reveal an historically high casualty rate among Palestinian prisoners, averaging a life lost every four days.

Recent Figures

Official armed forces most recently revised information on detention fatalities for May 2024, and detention administration during September 2024. Analysts documented another 35 fatalities in detention following these dates and verified them with Israeli authorities.

Despite the total number of fatalities recorded being significantly higher than previous assessments, it almost certainly does not reflect the entire scope of losses among Palestinians, per the director of the prisoners and detainees department.

“Even though we are providing evidence for a greater figure of casualties than earlier indicated, this is not the entire story,” he stated. “We are sure that there are still people who perished in custody that we have not identified.”

Non-Combatant Fatalities

Classified Israeli data indicates that the largest portion of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who died in jail were non-combatants, per a simultaneous inquiry.

In May of this year, a armed services record tracking all fighters in Gaza, a registry of over 47,000 listed people, listed just 21 deaths in detention. By that point, 65 Gazans from Gaza had perished in detention.

Detention Conditions

Physical violence, mistreatment, and other abuse of Palestinian individuals has been normalised across Israel’s jail system over two years of hostilities. Senior officials have publicly acknowledged inadequate food and an underground jail holding Palestinian individuals who are denied sunlight.

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

Systemic Abuse

The systematic abuse occurred alongside a disturbing rise in deaths registered across at least 12 civilian and military facilities in Israel. During the previous decade prior to the hostilities, there were on average several fatalities a year.

“This isn’t just an individual case occasionally. It is institutional and it is likely to persist,” an official stated, partially due to the fact there is a culture of virtual exemption from consequences for harming and abusing detainees.

Merely one incident of assaulting prisoners has come to trial, with the military personnel handed a punishment to half a year. An effort to prosecute others over a brutal attack involving sexual violence resulted in public rallies and the detention of Israel’s senior defense attorney, with the alleged perpetrators now insisting that allegations against them be withdrawn.

Absence of Consequences

“In spite of this large quantity of fatalities, throughout the conflict not one individual has been detained,” the official stated. “There have been no indictments over any fatality.

“While these policies are being applied, all Palestinian detainees in custody faces risk, also the those in good health, even the youth who have no health problems.”

High-Profile Cases

Certain fatalities in confinement have been high profile, for instance a 50-year-old medical chief who died in confinement after 120 days in custody.

A detainee detained alongside the deceased stated that he was led to the yard by prison staff shortly before his demise, obviously hurt and naked from the hips downward. His body remains unreleased to Gaza.

Additional detainees who died in confinement by Israeli authorities are unidentified. Correctional authorities and armed services gave investigators with the figure of casualties in confinement, and limited additional information such as the facility where they died, but not the detainees’ identities.

Recognition Difficulties

Regarding 21 occurrences, primarily detainees from Gaza, investigators were not able to connect the few details given by authorities to a death documented by rights organisations, by means of testimony from released detainees or coverage in the press.

The detainees’ families could be unaware about their family members’ fatalities either, as Israel has made it difficult to track detainees it is holding. Over half a year at the beginning of the war, the armed services would not provide to supply fundamental details about the whereabouts of numerous of persons detained in Gaza, practically implementing a approach of forced disappearance, per the advocacy organization.

Insufficient Disclosure

From May 2024, authorities have created an email address for enquiries about Palestinians from Gaza, but this has led to just a partial and limited improvement. Investigators noted|observed|commented on