Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody have surged: Report

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 on Monday by a human rights group that says systematic violence and denial of medical care at prisons and detention centers 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.

Reporters spoke with a former guard and a former nurse at one prison, an Israeli doctor who treated malnourished prisoners brought to his hospital, former detainees and their relatives, and lawyers representing them and rights groups.

The former guard at a military prison notorious for its harsh treatment of Palestinians told the reporters that detainees were routinely shackled with chains and kicked and hit with batons, and that the facility had been dubbed a “graveyard” because so many prisoners were dying there.

He agreed to talk to AP to raise awareness of violence in Israeli prisons and spoke on condition of anonymity due to fear of reprisal.

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 timeframe 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. Under pressure from rights groups, conditions improved slightly.

‘SUSPICIOUS FLIGHTS:’ South Africa said on Monday that the surprise arrival of 153 Palestinians on a plane last week indicated “a clear agenda to cleanse Palestinians” out of the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

The group landed in Johannesburg on a chartered flight on Thursday without departure stamps from Israel in their passports.

Reports said a shadowy organisation named Al Majd was involved in their travel from Gaza.

“We are suspicious, as the South African government, about the circumstances surrounding the arrival of the plane,” Foreign Minister Ronald Lamola told reporters.

South African border police kept the group on the plane for 12 hours before President Cyril Ramaphosa allowed them entry on a standard 90-day visa exemption.

It emerged later that a first plane carrying 176 Palestinians had arrived on Oct.28, according to the local Gift of the Givers charity that is assisting the arrivals.

“We do not want any further flights to come our way because this is a clear agenda to cleanse out Palestinians out of Gaza and the West Bank and those areas, which South Africa is against,” Lamola said.

“It does look like it represents a broader agenda to remove Palestinians from Palestine into many different parts of the world, and is a clearly orchestrated operation,” he said, without providing further details.

UNSC VOTE: The UN Security Council was set to vote on Monday on a US plan for Gaza that would provide international backing for a stabilization force and envisions a possible future pathway to an independent Palestinian state. But a big question remains: Will Russia veto it?

After nearly two weeks of negotiations on the US resolution, Russia suddenly circulated a rival proposal late on Thursday that would strip out reference to a transitional authority meant to be headed by President Donald Trump and ask the United Nations chief to provide options on an international force to provide security in Gaza.

The vote is a crucial next step for the fragile ceasefire and efforts to outline Gaza’s future following two years of war between Israel and Hamas. Arab and other Muslim countries that have expressed interest in providing troops for an international stabilization force have signaled that UN Security Council authorization is essential for their participation.

Agencies