At least 98 Palestinian prisoners died in Israeli custody: Report

At least 98 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli detention since October 2023, with the actual number likely significantly higher, according to Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI).

Data from PHRI, reported by The Guardian on Monday, indicated that most of those who died in detention were civilians, where torture and abuse of detainees have been systematic and rampant.

The causes of death have ranged from physical violence to medical neglect and malnutrition.

Of all the deaths, 52 occurred in military custody, all of whom were Palestinians from the Gaza Strip. A total of 46 deaths took place in Israel Prison Service (IPS) custody, including 17 from the Gaza Strip, 26 from the West Bank, and others who were Palestinian citizens or residents of Israel.

PHRI compiled its findings from forensic reports, professional testimonies, eyewitness accounts, relatives of detainees and official information requests used to track the deaths.

According to the report, Israeli prison authorities have provided detailed data only for the first eight months of the more than two-year war on Gaza. For that period, the data showed a significant mortality rate - an average of one death every four days.

The Israeli military last updated the death toll in May 2024, and the IPS last recorded a death in September 2024.

Since then, PHRI researchers have identified an additional 35 cases of Palestinian detainees who died in custody, which they confirmed with Israeli authorities.

However, the organisation estimates that the real number is likely much higher, especially as hundreds of Palestinians from Gaza remain unaccounted for.

Before Monday’s report, more than 80 prisoner deaths had been confirmed.

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Naji Abbas, director of the prisoners and detainees department at PHRI, told The Guardian that although the organisation is reporting a higher number of deaths than previously known, it still does not represent "a full picture".

"We are sure that there are still people who died in detention that we don’t know about," he said.

Since 7 October 2023, allegations of extrajudicial killings and severe abuse at Israeli detention centres have surged to record levels.

The deaths in detention have occurred amid widespread reports of physical abuse, sexual assault, medical neglect and starvation - with civilians making up the majority of the fatalities, according to classified Israeli data.

The circumstances surrounding these deaths have largely been kept secret by Israeli prison authorities.

To date, none of these deaths has led to legal proceedings or accountability.

"Despite this mass number of deaths, over two years no one has been arrested… There have been no charges over any killing," Abbas explained.

The PHRI director warned that "every Palestinian in detention is in danger, even the healthy ones, even the young ones who have no [underlying] medical issues," adding that the abuses faced by Palestinian detainees are systemic rather than isolated incidents.

Forced disappearances

Over two years into the Gaza genocide, fresh reports of torture and deaths in custody continue to emerge from Israeli detention centres in spite of the escalating restrictions on reporting. 

Though the IPS and army provided PHRI with a number of the prisoner death toll and other minor details - such as where they died - critical identifying information like the prisoners' names was not given in some cases. 

PHRI was unable to match the details provided by Israeli authorities to a death recorded by rights organisations in 21 cases, with most of the victims originating from Gaza.

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Moreover, Israel has made it increasingly difficult to identify and track Palestinians under its custody, with PHRI noting that it is in effect implementing a policy of forced disappearance, "continued failures and lack of transparency".

Currently, an estimated 9,250 Palestinian prisoners are being held across 23 prisons, detention facilities and interrogation centres.

This figure excludes unaccounted-for detainees held in Israeli military camps, primarily Palestinians abducted from Gaza, whose precise numbers remain unknown.

According to PHRI, the withholding of information on disappeared individuals and the denial of the existence of certain prisoners' records "provides substantial grounds to fear that many are no longer alive".

"These grave violations of international law have rendered any effort to determine the full scope of Israel’s policy of killing detained Palestinians, or to trace the fate of the many Palestinians taken into custody, extremely difficult, if not impossible," PHRI said in its report. 

The Israeli military, on the other hand, claimed that it acts "in accordance with Israeli and international law".

Meanwhile, the IPS stressed similar remarks, adding that it "examines" every death in Israeli detention and refers these cases to the "competent authorities as required".