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According to figures released by Israel, no fewer than 98 detainees from Palestine have lost their lives while in custody since October 2023. A human rights group based in Israel has stated that the real toll is probably considerably higher, due to many of unaccounted for detainees originating in Gaza.

Report Findings

A new investigation recorded fatalities caused by brutality, medical neglect, and malnutrition. Analysts employed freedom of information requests, medical examiner documents, and testimonies with lawyers, activists, relatives, and witnesses.

Israeli authorities released comprehensive statistics limited to the first eight months of the war. Throughout these months, reported numbers indicate an historically high fatality rate among Palestinian prisoners, equating to a single fatality each 96 hours.

Updated Statistics

The military most recently revised information on custodial deaths for May 2024, and correctional authorities during September 2024. Researchers documented a further 35 casualties in confinement after these dates and confirmed them with Israeli authorities.

Despite the overall count of fatalities recorded being significantly higher than earlier projections, it likely fails to capture the entire scope of losses among Palestinians, per the head of the detainee affairs unit.

“Although we are offering documentation for a greater figure of casualties than once estimated, this is not a full picture,” he stated. “We are sure that there are even now individuals who perished in detention that we have not identified.”

Civilian Casualties

Classified official information suggests that the largest portion of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who lost their lives in prison were ordinary citizens, per a parallel inquiry.

In May of this year, a armed services record monitoring all combatants in Gaza, a registry of over 47,000 identified persons, recorded just 21 fatalities in detention. By that date, 65 individuals from Palestine from Gaza had lost their lives in detention.

Custodial Environment

Assault, torture, and further cruelty of Palestinian individuals has been normalised across Israel’s detention facilities throughout the duration of conflict. Senior officials have openly admitted starvation rations and an subterranean prison holding detainees who are denied sunlight.

Present and past detainees and informants from the Israeli military have all alleged routine infractions of global standards.

Systemic Abuse

The institutionalised cruelty came with a disturbing rise in casualties documented across at least 12 detention centers in Israel. During the previous decade prior to the war, there were typically a couple fatalities a year.

“This is not merely an isolated incident sporadically. It is systemic and it is expected to endure,” an official stated, partially since there is a environment of near total impunity for killing and mistreating detainees.

Only a single instance of assaulting inmates has proceeded to court, with the military personnel handed a punishment to 210 days. An attempt to charge others over a severe beating including abuse caused right-wing protests and the detention of Israel’s chief legal officer, with the suspects now insisting that charges against them be dismissed.

Absence of Consequences

“Despite this large quantity of fatalities, during 24 months not one individual has faced arrest,” the official said. “There have been no prosecutions over any death.

“While these policies continue to be enforced, all Palestinian detainees in confinement is in danger, also the healthy ones, including the young ones who have no health problems.”

Notable Incidents

Certain fatalities in confinement have been widely reported, for instance a middle-aged healthcare leader who died in confinement after 120 days in detention.

A prisoner detained alongside the individual reported that he was taken to the courtyard by correctional officers just prior to his demise, obviously hurt and exposed from the hips downward. His corpse has not been returned to Gaza.

Additional detainees who died in detention in Israel stay unnamed. Correctional authorities and military supplied researchers with the figure of fatalities in detention, and basic additional information such as the facility where they died, but not the prisoners’ names.

Recognition Difficulties

In 21 cases, mainly detainees from Gaza, analysts were not able to connect the few details provided by officials to a fatality documented by human rights groups, by means of testimony from freed prisoners or coverage in the media.

The inmates’ next of kin could be unaware about their family members’ fatalities either, as Israel has made it difficult to track detainees it is holding. During 210 days at the beginning of the hostilities, the Israeli military refused to give essential data about the status of many of persons held in Gaza, practically carrying out a policy of involuntary missing persons, as stated by the advocacy organization.

Restricted Access

Beginning last May, authorities have established an digital correspondence for inquiries about detainees from Gaza, but this has led to just a modest and inadequate betterment. Researchers noted|observed|commented on