Systemic Negligence and Obscurity: Report Documents At Least 98 Palestinian Detainee Deaths

Systemic Negligence and Obscurity: Report Documents At Least 98 Palestinian Detainee Deaths, Warns Real Toll is Likely Much Higher

A new investigation by Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI), utilizing official Israeli data, has documented the deaths of at least 98 Palestinians in Israeli military and prison detention since the outbreak of the war in Gaza in October 2023. The report portrays a system of deliberate opacity and alleges a policy tantamount to forced disappearance, raising grave concerns that the actual number of fatalities is substantially higher.

The findings, compiled through freedom of information requests, forensic reviews, and extensive interviews with lawyers, activists, relatives, and witnesses, reveal an unprecedented casualty rate among Palestinian detainees. For the first eight months of the conflict—the only period for which Israeli authorities provided comprehensive data—a detainee died, on average, every four days.

A Deepening Crisis and an Incomplete Picture

While the Israeli military last updated its data on detention deaths in May 2024 and the Israel Prison Service (IPS) in September 2024, PHRI researchers have since identified and confirmed with authorities an additional 35 deaths occurring after these cut-off dates, bringing the total to 98.

Despite this being the highest figure reported to date, the NGO insists it is a significant undercount. “Even though we are providing evidence for a higher number of deaths than [previously reported], this is not a full picture,” said Naji Abbas, director of the prisoners and detainees department at PHRI. “We are sure that there are still people who died in detention that we don’t know about.”

The crisis of missing detainees lies at the heart of this uncertainty. A parallel investigation by the Guardian, +972 Magazine, and Local Call, which reviewed classified Israeli data, revealed a stark discrepancy: by May 2024, while 65 Palestinians from Gaza had died in jail, an official military intelligence database tracking Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad fighters listed only 21 custodial deaths. This suggests the vast majority of those who have perished were civilians not affiliated with the militant groups Israel claims to be targeting.

A Policy of Obscurity and Forced Disappearance

The report accuses Israel of implementing a systemic policy that has made tracking detainees nearly impossible, effectively amounting to forced disappearance, particularly in the early months of the war. For seven months, the Israeli military refused to provide any basic information about the status, location, or health of thousands of people detained in Gaza.

While an email address for inquiries was established in May 2024 under pressure, PHRI notes only a “partial and limited improvement,” with “continued failures and lack of transparency.” The rights group HaMoked reported that over six months last year, Israeli authorities claimed to have no record of arrest for about 400 individuals, even when their detention was well-documented by eyewitnesses and family testimony.

This policy of obscurity leaves families in agonizing limbo. The Alfaqawi family, for instance, had to petition Israel’s high court to discover that Mounir, 41, and his son Yassin, 18, detained in Khan Younis in March 2024, had died in custody. After the military repeatedly denied holding them, the court finally confirmed in October that the men were “no longer alive.” Chilling testimony from a former detainee revealed the two had been used as human shields for Israeli soldiers before their deaths, a practice strictly prohibited under international law.

High-Profile Cases and Anonymous Deaths

Some deaths have drawn international attention, such as that of Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, the 50-year-old head of orthopaedics at al-Shifa hospital. A pivotal figure in Gaza’s collapsing healthcare system, he died in Ofer prison after four months in detention. A fellow prisoner testified that shortly before his death, Dr. al-Bursh was brought into a yard, visibly injured and naked from the waist down. His body has not been returned to his family for burial, a practice Israel has repeatedly employed, which human rights groups condemn as a violation of the Geneva Conventions.

However, many others remain anonymous victims of the system. The IPS and military provided PHRI with death counts and minimal details like the location of death, but consistently withheld the names of the deceased. In 21 cases, mostly involving individuals from Gaza, PHRI could not match the official details to any death recorded by rights groups or the media, indicating these individuals have vanished without a public trace.

Systemic Impunity and Violations of International Law

A central finding of the report is the total absence of accountability. “Despite this mass number of deaths, over [the course of the war] no one has been arrested,” Abbas stated. “There have been no charges over any killing.” He warned that under these conditions, “every Palestinian in detention is in danger, even the healthy ones, even the young ones who have no [underlying] medical issues.”

The report concludes that Israel’s refusal to provide clear, timely information “provides substantial grounds to fear that many [detainees] are no longer alive.” It states that 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.”

Legal experts point to several specific violations:

• Forced Disappearance: The refusal to acknowledge detention and conceal the fate of individuals is a hallmark of this practice, prohibited under international humanitarian law.
• Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment: The documented use of human shields, denial of medical care, and the conditions described by released detainees all point to systematic abuse.
• Violation of Due Process: The mass detention of individuals without charge or access to legal counsel, under the controversial “Unlawful Combatants” law, strips them of fundamental legal protections.

Official Responses and the Scale of Detention

In response to inquiries, the Israeli military stated it acts “in accordance with Israeli and international law” and is aware of detainee deaths, including those with pre-existing conditions or injuries from hostilities. It said each death is investigated by the military police as per “standard protocol.”

The Israel Prison Service stated it operates according to the law, “examines” every death in custody, and refers cases to “competent authorities as required.” It added: “The claims described do not reflect the conduct or procedures of the Israel Prison Service, and we are not aware of the incidents as presented.”

Despite a major prisoner exchange in mid-October that saw 1,700 Gazan detainees held without charge released, the scale of arrests means at least 1,000 others are believed to remain in Israeli custody under the same indefinite terms. With a system characterized by opacity, a lack of accountability, and a steadily rising death toll, the international community and human rights organizations are raising the alarm that a profound human rights catastrophe, hidden from view, continues to unfold.

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