The number of Palestinians dying in Israeli custody surged to nearly 100 people since the start of the war in Gaza, according to a report published Monday by a human rights group that says systematic violence and denial of medical care at prisons and detention centres contributed to many of the deaths it examined.
The picture that emerges from the report by Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI) is consistent with findings by The Associated Press, which interviewed more than a dozen people about prison abuses, medical neglect and deaths, analyzed available data and reviewed reports of autopsies.
Of the 98 prisoner deaths PHRI documented since the Oct. 7, 2023, attack that ignited the war, 27 occurred in 2023, 50 in 2024 and 21 this year — the most recent on Nov. 2.
PHRI says the actual death toll over this time period is “likely significantly higher,” noting that Israel has refused to provide information about hundreds of Palestinians detained during the war.
Fewer than 30 Palestinians died in Israeli custody in the 10 years preceding the war, PHRI says. But since the war, the prison population more than doubled to 11,000, as people were rounded up, mainly from Gaza and the West Bank.
The number of prisoners dying grew at an even faster rate over that period, PHRI data shows.
PHRI documented deaths by interviewing former detainees and prison medical staff, examining reports prepared by doctors who observed autopsies at the behest of dead prisoners’ families, and confirming dozens of fatalities through freedom of information requests.
“The alarming rate at which people are killed in Israeli custody reveals a system that has lost all moral and professional restraint,” said Naji Abbas, a director at PHRI.
Last year, the head of Israel’s prison system, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, boasted that he had degraded prison conditions to the legal minimum.
Israel’s Prison Service said it operates in accordance with the law. It declined to comment on the death count and directed any inquiries to Israel’s army.
The army said it is aware some detainees have died, including people with pre-existing illnesses or combat-related injuries. It said allegations of abuse or inadequate conditions are assessed, and that those who violate the army’s code of conduct are punished and sometimes subject to criminal investigations.
Guards told to reduce the number of deaths
A former prison guard at the Sde Teiman military prison in southern Israel who spoke to the AP said that the facility had been dubbed a “graveyard” because so many prisoners were dying there.
Although hesitant at first, he said he eventually participated in beatings of prisoners.
One morning, early in Israel’s war against Hamas, the guard arrived at work to see a motionless Palestinian lying on his side in the yard, yet no guards rushed to see what had happened to the man, who was dead.
“It was sort of business as usual with the dead guy,” said the guard, who didn’t know the man’s cause of death.
He agreed to talk to the AP to raise awareness of violence in Israeli prisons and spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal.
Prisoners’ arms and legs were always in chains, and they were beaten if they moved or spoke, the guard said, adding that nearly all would urinate and defecate on themselves rather than ask to use the bathroom.
The Israeli army said prolonged handcuffing is implemented only in exceptional cases when there are “significant security considerations.”
Guards were told by their commanders — who also participated in the beatings — that they needed to reduce the deaths, according to the Sde Teiman guard.
Eventually cameras were installed, which helped mitigate the abuse, he said.
The Israeli army’s former top lawyer, Maj.-Gen. Yifat Tomer-Yerushalmi, has been taken into custody a week after admitting to leaking a video in 2024 of Israeli soldiers suspected of sexually assaulting a Palestinian detainee. After the admission, Tomer-Yerushalmi abruptly resigned and briefly disappeared before being found on a Tel Aviv beach.
Twenty-nine prisoners have died at Sde Teiman since the war began, according to PHRI.
Earlier this year, an Israeli soldier was convicted of abusing Palestinians in Sde Teiman and sentenced to seven months in prison, according to the army, which said this shows there is accountability. But lawyers for prisoners say Israel rarely conducts serious investigations into alleged violence and that this fuels the problem.
In a sign of the public climate, the Israeli military’s top lawyer was recently forced to resign after acknowledging she approved the leak of a surveillance video at the centre of an investigation into allegations of severe sexual abuse against a Palestinian at Sde Teiman.
The leak, meant to defend the decision by her office to prosecute guards for the alleged abuses, instead triggered fierce criticism from hardline Israeli leaders who sympathized with the guards.
Several soldiers were indicted in that case, which is still pending before the military court.
Medical neglect and abuse
It is difficult to pinpoint with certainty the cause of death for most prisoners. Sometimes, at the behest of prisoners’ families, doctors were granted permission by Israel to attend autopsies and provided reports to the families on what they saw.
Eight reports seen by the AP showed a pattern of physical abuse and medical neglect.
In one, a 45-year-old man who died in Kishon detention centre, Mohammad Husein Ali, showed multiple signs of physical assault, likely causing brain bleed, according to the report. The potential use of excessive restraints was also noted.
His family said he was healthy before he was detained from his home in the West Bank. He died within a week of being imprisoned.
Husein Ali had previously served time in an Israeli prison after being convicted of association with militancy, according to his family. But they said he had no ties with militants when he was arrested last year.
After Husein Ali was taken, his two-year-old daughter would stare out the window, calling for her father, said his wife, Hadeel. “She’d say, ‘Baba, where’s baba?’ But after time, she stopped asking,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes.
