The number of Palestinians that have died in Israeli detention facilities has surged amid the war in Gaza, according to a report issued by a human rights group.
At least 94 Palestinian deaths have been documented since October 2023, the report published on Monday by Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) said.
The report is just the latest accusation regarding Israel’s jails, in which critics say thousands of Palestinians taken from Gaza and the occupied West Bank are routinely abused.
The nonprofit organisation expressed “grave concerns that the actual number of Palestinians who have died in Israeli custody is significantly higher, particularly among those detained from Gaza”.
It said Israeli authorities have consistently failed to hold those responsible for the deaths to account.
Of the 94 deaths that the report documents, 68 were from the Gaza Strip, while 26 were from the West Bank or held Israeli citizenship.
Israeli military prisons were responsible for at least 52 of the deaths. The remaining 42 were documented in facilities run by the Israel Prison Service (IPS).
Amid the war, Israeli soldiers have detained thousands of people from across Gaza. PHRI’s report asserts that they are now effectively “disappeared”.
The Israeli authorities have stopped sharing detainee information with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and barred all access to detention sites.
PHRI called those moves a “direct breach of both international and domestic law”.
Israel also refuses to acknowledge that it is holding many Palestinian prisoners, or that some have died in custody, leaving families in the dark for prolonged periods.
Some families found out about the death of their loved ones from Israeli media reports.
PHRI pointed at the case of Dr Hussam Abu Safia, the renowned director of the Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in northern Gaza, for whom Israeli authorities claimed for days that they had “no indication of the individual’s arrest or detention”.
Israel continues to hold the doctor, who was taken from the hospital in December, despite an international outcry. His lawyer asserts that he has been subjected to torture and humiliation.
Deaths of Palestinians in Israeli custody have been recorded in almost all major IPS facilities, including Ktzi’ot Prison, Megiddo, Nitzan and Ofer, as well as military camps and bases, including the notorious Sde Teiman, the report says.
Physical violence, including bruising, rib fractures, internal organ damage and intracranial haemorrhage, has been a leading cause of death, followed by chronic medical neglect or denial and severe malnutrition.
“Given the grave conditions faced by Palestinians in Israeli incarceration facilities, and in light of Israel’s policies of enforced disappearance, systematic killing, and institutionalized cover-ups, PHRI calls for an independent international investigation into the deaths of Palestinians in Israeli custody,” the NGO said.
