At least 94 Palestinians died in Israeli custody between Oct. 7, 2023, and August 2025, according to a report by an Israel-based human rights group led by medical professionals, representing a dramatic surge in prisoner deaths during the war in Gaza.
The report by Physicians for Human Rights — Israel (PHRI) says its figures may only represent a portion of the total actual deaths of Palestinians in civil or military detention.
The PHRI says its research revealed “deeply concerning patterns of physical violence and medical negligence,” which it says were the two primary factors behind the deaths of most Palestinians in Israeli custody.
“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.
PHRI documented the 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 for Israeli government data.
The Israeli prison service said in response to the PHRI report that all of its facilities are operated in adherence with Israeli laws and with proper oversight.
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The PHRI says it analyzed post-mortem examinations that showed some Palestinian detainees died after sustaining bruising “consistent with beatings,” multiple rib fractures, hemorrhages and lacerations of intra-abdominal organs.
Among the examples it cites of purported medical negligence, the PHRI notes one case of documented severe malnutrition and several cases of severe infections that it said were left untreated.
The authors of the report used official Israeli data obtained through freedom of information requests as well as individual inquiries to compile its report. It says that of the 94 Palestinians who died in Israeli detention facilities since October 2023, 68 were from the Gaza Strip. The remaining 26 were from the Israeli-occupied West Bank, and some also held Israeli citizenship.
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, the PHRI says. But since the war sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack on Israel, the organization says Israel’s 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 show.
In response to the report, the Israel Prison Service told CBS News it operates “in accordance with the law and under the supervision of official oversight bodies.”
The service said it was not aware of the specific incidents presented in the report, and that the claims “do not reflect the conduct or procedures of the Israel Prison Service.”
The IPS also maintains that inmates have adequate access to medical care, hygiene and adequate living conditions.
Last year, the far-right, nationalist government minister in charge of Israel’s prison system, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, boasted that he had degraded prison conditions to the legal minimum, vowing they would no longer be “summer camps.”
Under pressure from rights groups, conditions in Israeli detention facilities have improved slightly in recent months, the PHRI says.
Personal testimonies from prison staff
A former nurse at the Sde Teiman military prison in southern Israel, whom the PHRI said had spoken on the condition of anonymity, told the organization chains were used to shackle many prisoners’ arms and legs, causing such severe wounds in some cases that Palestinians’ limbs had to be amputated.
During the several weeks in early 2024 when she said she worked at the facility, which has held many detainees from Gaza and been the focus of high-profile abuse allegations, she said she didn’t see anyone die, but that staff had mentioned prisoner deaths. PHRI said she left the job in response to the alleged abusive treatment of the prisoners.
Mostafa Alkharouf/Anadolu/Getty 
The Israeli army said prolonged handcuffing is implemented only in exceptional cases, when there are “significant security considerations.” Even then, detainees’ medical condition is taken into account, it said. Only a few detainees from Gaza are currently being handled this way, it added.
A former Sde Teiman guard told PHRI that colleagues were at some point asked by their commanders — whom she said participated in the beatings — to reduce the number of deaths. Eventually cameras were installed, which helped mitigate the alleged abuse, the PHRI says.
PHRI’s report says 29 prisoners have died at Sde Teiman since the war began. Earlier this year, an Israeli soldier was convicted of abusing Palestinian detainees at Sde Teiman and sentenced in a high profile case to seven months in prison, which the army said was evidence of accountability.
But lawyers for prisoners say Israel rarely conducts serious investigations into alleged violence, which it claims fuels the problem.
In a sign of the public mood on the issue, the Israeli military’s top lawyer was recently forced to resign after admitting that she had approved the leak of a surveillance video at the center of an investigation into allegations of severe abuse against a Palestinian detainee at Sde Teiman.
She said she intended the leak to defend the decision by her office to prosecute guards for the alleged abuses. Instead, it triggered fierce criticism from hard-line Israelis, including some in the government, who sympathized with the guards. Sde Teiman and another detention center were swarmed by angry protesters who clashed with prison guards and tried to breach both facilities.
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Several soldiers were indicted in the case, which is still pending before a military court.
It is difficult to pinpoint with certainty the cause of death for most prisoners. Sometimes, at the behest of prisoners’ families, doctors were granted permission by Israel to attend autopsies and provided reports to the families on what they saw.
Purported medical negligence
Eight reports cited by the PHRI and seen by The Associated Press showed a pattern of physical abuse and medical neglect.
In one, a 45-year-old man who died in Kishon detention center, Mohammad Husein Ali, showed multiple signs of physical assault, likely causing brain bleed, according to the report. The potential use of excessive restraints was also noted.
His family said he was healthy before he was detained at his home in the West Bank. He died within a week of being imprisoned.
Malnutrition was a contributing factor in at least one detainee death, according to PHRI, with a 17-year-old boy dying from starvation.
In September, Israel’s Supreme Court ordered that more and better food be served to Palestinian inmates. Rights groups say the situation has slightly improved.
The army said detainees receive three meals a day, approved by a dietitian. It said every detainee is examined by a doctor upon arrival and, for those who need it, monitored with regular checkups.
