Systematic violence, denial of medical care contribute to Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody: Report
The number of Palestinians who have died in Israel has reached almost 100 people since the beginning of the war in Gaza, according to a report published on Monday.
This image from a report by doctors for human rights – Israel (phpli) is consistent with the findings of the Associated Press about abuse, neglect and death, analyzing available data and autopsies reports.
Of the 98 Jeritive Death phh recorded since Oct 7, 2023, the attacks that heralded the war, which occurred in 2023, 50 in 2024 and this year – the most recent on November 2.
PhhI says the actual death toll during this period is “probably much higher,” noting that Israel has refused to provide information on the hundreds of Palestinians arrested during the war.
Fewer than 30 Palestinians have died in Israel’s last war in the 10 years preceding the war, Phy said. But since the war, the prison population has more than doubled to 11,000, as people are being held, mostly from Gaza and the West Bank.
The number of inmates dying grew at a rapid rate during that time, phi data shows.
Phri has documented the deaths by interviewing former inmates and prison medical staff, reviewing reports prepared by doctors who performed autopsies on the families of dead prisoners, and verifying dozens of requests for freedom.
“The appalling rate at which people are being killed in Israel’s construction reveals a system that has lost all moral and technical restraints,” said Naji Abbas, director at FRI.
A year ago, the head of Israel’s prison system, National Security Minister Tamar Ben-Gvir, boasted that he had deplorable prison conditions.
Israel’s prison service said it was operating in accordance with the law. It declined to comment on the death toll and directed any questions to the Israeli army.
The military said it is aware that some of those detained have died, including people with pre-existing illnesses or combat-related injuries. It said allegations of abuse or inadequate conditions or that those who violate the Army’s code of conduct are punished and sometimes subject to criminal investigation.
The guards were 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 the facility was called a “graveyard” because many prisoners died there.
Although he was reluctant at first, he eventually joined in beating the prisoners.
One morning, at the beginning of Israel’s war against Hamas, a security guard came to work to see a motionless Palestinian lying beside him in the yard, yet no guards rushed to see what had happened.
“It was normal business as usual with a dead boy,” said the security guard, who did not know the man’s motive.
He agreed to speak to the AP to raise awareness of violence in Israeli prisons and spoke on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.
Prisoners and prisoners were always in chains, and beaten if they walked or talked, the guard said, adding that almost all of them would urinate and soil themselves to use the bathroom.
Israel’s military says the long-term detention is used only in exceptional cases where there are “important security considerations.”
The guards were told by their superiors – who also participated in the strike – that they needed to reduce the deaths, according to SDE Teiman Guard.
Eventually, cameras were installed, which helped reduce abuse, he said.
Former ARRAME Army Senior Advocate Majankulu. – Gen. ITomer-Yerushalmi of Yifat, was arrested a week after admitting to leaking a video in 2024 Israeli soldiers accused of sexual abuse. After being accepted, the tomer-yerushalmi quickly left and disappeared briefly before being found on a beach in Tel Aviv.
Twenty-nine prisoners have died in Sde Teiman since the war began, according to Physi.
Earlier this year, an Israeli soldier was found guilty of torturing Palestinians in Sde Teiman and sentenced to seven months in prison, according to the army, which says this shows accountability. But lawyers for the prisoners say that Israel rarely investigates large-scale violence that was suspected of violence and that this is fueling the problem.
In a sign of the public mood, Israel’s top military lawyer was recently forced to resign after admitting to the leak of surveillance video at the center of sexual abuse at SDE Teiman.
The leak, which was intended to defend the decision by his office to prosecute security guards at the time of the abuse, instead drew fierce criticism from sympathetic Hardline leaders.
Several soldiers were put down in that case, which is pending before the Military Court.
Medical Neglect and abuse
It is difficult to identify with certainty the cause of death of many prisoners. Sometimes, at the demonstration of prisoners’ families, doctors are given permission by Israel to attend autopsies and give reports to the families about what they see.
The eight reports seen by the AP showed a pattern of physical abuse and medical neglect.
In another, a 45-year-old man who died at the Kishon Detention Center, Mohammad Husein Ali, showed multiple signs of physical assault, as if he had suffered brain damage, according to the report. The potential use of over-inhibition was also noted.
His family said he was fine before he was arrested at his home in the West Bank. He died within a week of his arrest.
Hussein Ali had previously served time in an Israeli prison after being found guilty of joining the war, according to his family. But they said he had no military involvement when he was arrested last year.
After Husein Ali was taken, his two-year-old daughter would return from the window and call her father, said his wife, Hadeel. “He was saying, ‘Dad, where is Dad?’ But after a while, he stopped asking,” she said, wiping tears from her eyes.
