A new report by Israeli medical and human-rights group Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI) paints a grim picture: at least 98 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since October 2023, and the real number could be higher because many detainees from Gaza are still unaccounted for.
PHRI built its findings from official Israeli records, freedom-of-information responses, forensic reports, interviews with families and lawyers, testimony from released detainees, and other investigations. Their conclusion: people held by Israeli authorities died from physical violence, medical neglect, or a combination of both.
The group found that 46 Palestinians died while held by the Israel Prison Service, and at least 52 died in military detention all from Gaza. PHRI warns that “the fate of hundreds” of Gaza detainees is still unknown, suggesting more deaths may be hidden from public view. Israeli authorities stopped sharing regular updates with the Red Cross early in the war and restricted access to detention sites, limiting outside oversight.
PHRI documents specific cases to make the scale and human cost clear. Among the 73 identified by name are Dr. Adnan al-Bursh, a 53-year-old orthopaedic chief at Al-Shifa Hospital, who reportedly showed signs of physical abuse before dying in custody, and 17-year-old Walid Khalid Ahmad, whose autopsy pointed to likely prolonged malnutrition.
The report accuses officials including hard-line politics inside Israel of worsening conditions in prisons. One PHRI coordinator said the pattern of deaths, and evidence pointing to torture and neglect, “points to a deliberate Israeli policy of killing Palestinians while in detention.” The group also criticized the lack of criminal investigations against those responsible.
Israeli prison authorities push back. The Israel Prison Service told CNN it “operates in accordance with the law,” saying inmates receive medical care, hygiene and adequate living conditions, and declined to comment on PHRI’s figures. Israel’s Ministry of National Security did not respond to requests for comment for the report.
PHRI’s findings show deaths across many facilities, with detainee fatalities recorded at sites such as Sde Teiman (a military-run field hospital turned detention centre), Ofer and Anatot. The report notes an average of about two Palestinian deaths per month in IPS facilities since the war began, with the monthly toll rising over time.
Human-rights groups have previously raised alarms about harsh conditions, restricted medical access and allegations of abuse at detention sites. Earlier this year PHRI joined B’Tselem in accusing Israel of actions in Gaza that meet the threshold for genocide a charge Israel strongly rejects.
For families of the detained and for human-rights monitors, the report deepens worries that many deaths are going unseen and unpunished. For policymakers and courts, it raises ugly questions about accountability, the treatment of prisoners, and how a democracy handles security and detention during wartime.
