- 98 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli custody since October.
- Deaths resulted from torture, medical neglect, and deliberate malnutrition.
- A whistleblower confirmed sexual assault took place at the Sde Teiman facility.
- No one has been arrested or charged for any of these prisoner deaths.
- A human rights group warns the true death toll is likely much higher.
A quiet genocide is unfolding behind the walls of Israeli prisons, a systematic campaign of death and torture that the world’s legacy media refuses to properly confront. Since October 2023, at least 98 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli custody, a number that Physicians for Human Rights Israel warns is likely significantly higher. These are not combatants, but civilians who have perished from torture, abuse, medical neglect, and deliberate malnutrition in a system that has abandoned all pretense of international law and basic human decency.
The data, compiled from forensic reports, eyewitness accounts, and official information requests, reveals a deeply disturbing pattern. Of the 98 confirmed deaths, 52 occurred in military custody and 46 in Israel Prison Service custody. The victims were predominantly from Gaza and the West Bank, with some being Palestinian citizens of Israel. For the first eight months of the war, the mortality rate averaged one death every four days, a shocking statistic that underscores the scale of the crisis.
Naji Abbas, director of the prisoners and detainees department at PHRI, stated the official number does not represent a "full picture." He told The Guardian, "We are sure that there are still people who died in detention that we don’t know about." This admission points to a policy of forced disappearance, where Israel withholds critical information, making it nearly impossible to trace the fate of hundreds of detained Palestinians from Gaza.
A system of torture and neglect
The causes of death paint a harrowing picture of systemic brutality. Post-mortem examinations analyzed by PHRI showed deaths from bruising consistent with beatings, multiple rib fractures, hemorrhages, and lacerations of intra-abdominal organs. In one documented case, a 45-year-old man, Mohammad Husein Ali, died in Kishon detention center within a week of his imprisonment, showing signs of physical assault that likely caused a brain bleed. His family said he was healthy before his detention.
Medical negligence is a primary killer. The report cites cases of severe infections left untreated and at least one death from starvation, a 17-year-old boy who succumbed to malnutrition. This neglect occurs despite the Israeli military’s claim that detainees are examined by a doctor upon arrival. A former nurse at the Sde Teiman military prison, who spoke anonymously, described how chains used to shackle prisoners caused such severe wounds that some required limb amputations.
The horrors of Sde Teiman
The Sde Teiman military base has become a focal point for these atrocities. Whistleblowers and investigative reports have detailed a house of horrors where abuse is routine. A video emerged purporting to show the sexual assault of a Palestinian detainee by a group of masked soldiers. Dr. Yoel Donchin, an anesthesiologist who worked at the facility’s field hospital, came forward as the whistleblower who reported the attack, confirming the detainee suffered fractured ribs, signs of beating, and a tear in his intestines from sodomy that required emergency surgery.
Despite these graphic and credible allegations, accountability is virtually nonexistent. PHRI’s Naji Abbas explained the stunning lack of consequences: "Despite this mass number of deaths, over two years no one has been arrested… There have been no charges over any killing." He warned that "every Palestinian in detention is in danger," stating that the abuses are systemic rather than isolated incidents. The response from Israeli authorities has been a blanket denial, with the Israel Prison Service stating it operates "in accordance with the law."
The sheer scale of this moral collapse is staggering. Consider the global outrage that would erupt, the sanctions and condemnations that would be levied, if the roles were reversed and nearly 100 Israeli civilians had died in Palestinian custody from torture and medical neglect. The hypocrisy is deafening. This is not a conflict between two equal sides; it is the story of a powerful, nuclear-armed state systematically dismantling the lives of a captive population under the watchful but silent eyes of the international community. The bodies piling up in Israeli detention centers are a permanent stain on a nation that has lost its soul, proving that the most dangerous place for a Palestinian to be is in the custody of those who have sworn to protect their own security at any human cost.
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