- November 17, 2025
98 Palestinians Died In Custody Since October 2023, Real Toll Likely To Be More: Report
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At least 98 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October 2023, with reports of higher tolls and abuse, including two doctors’ deaths.
According to PHRI, 52 deaths were reported in Israeli military custody and 46 Palestinians died in Israeli police custody. (AFP)
At least 98 Palestinians have died in custody since October 2023 but the real toll is likely to be higher as hundreds of people detained in Gaza were missing, an Israel-based human rights group said.
The Israeli authorities have only provided comprehensive data for the first eight months of the war. The military had last updated data on deaths in detention for May 2024, and the Israel Prison Service (IPS) in September 2024.
The Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI) tracked deaths from causes including physical violence, medical neglect and malnutrition.
The Guardian quoted Naji Abbas, director of the prisoners and detainees department at PHRI, as saying that though the total number of deaths charted is significantly higher than other recent estimates, it likely fails to capture the full scale of Palestinian loss.
“Even though we are providing evidence for a higher number of deaths than [previously reported] this is not a full picture,” he said. “We are sure that there are still people who died in detention that we don’t know about.”
According to The Guardian, classified Israeli data stated the majority of Palestinian prisoners from Gaza who died in jail were civilians. As per PHRI, 52 deaths were reported in Israeli military custody and 46 Palestinians died in Israeli police custody.
In May this year, a military intelligence database named more than 47,000 individuals, of which only 21 died in custody.
The figures for death in detention cover “security prisoners”, a category that includes civilians from Gaza held without charge or trial and prisoners of conscience from the occupied West Bank, The Guardian reported, adding that three of the dead were Palestinians with citizenship or residency in Israel.
According to reports, physical violence, torture and other abuse of Palestinians was normalised across Israel’s jail system over two years of war. Far-right national security minister Itamar Ben-Gvir had even pushed for starvation rations and an underground jail holding Palestinians.
The Guardian quoted current and former detainees and whistleblowers from the Israeli military alleging systemic violations of international law.
Naji Abbas said: “This isn’t just an individual case here and there. It is systemic and it will continue. Despite this mass number of deaths, over two years no one has been arrested. There have been no charges over any killing. While these policies are being applied, every Palestinian in detention is in danger, even the healthy ones, even the young ones who have no [underlying] medical issues.”
Some of the deaths in detention included high profile individuals such as Adnan al-Bursh, who was the head of orthopaedics at al-Shifa hospital. He died in Ofer prison after four months in detention.
Another high-profile prisoner is Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Gaza’s Kamal Adwan hospital, who was detained during a raid in December 2024. Initially, the Israeli military refused to acknowledge holding him despite video footage showing Israeli soldiers leading him into a vehicle.
The PHRI pointed out that for seven months since the start of the war the Israeli military denied requests to provide basic information about the status of thousands of people detained in Gaza, in effect implementing a policy of forced disappearance.
It said the military provided an email address for enquiries about Palestinians detained from Gaza only after May 2024 but only gave partial information.
“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,” it added.
Meanwhile, the Israeli military said it acts “in accordance with Israeli and international law” and is aware of the deaths of detainees, including those with pre-existing medical conditions or injuries “as a result of the hostilities”.
“As per standard protocol, an investigation is conducted for each death of a detainee by the military police,” the military said in a statement.
November 17, 2025, 17:13 IST
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