The Palestine Center for Prisoners’ Studies announced on Tuesday that the number of Palestinian prisoners who have died in Israeli prisons since the start of the war on Gaza on October 7, 2023, has reached 77. All of them were identified, with the causes of death including torture, medical neglect, and poor detention conditions.
In a press statement, the Beirut-based center clarified that the total number of prisoners who have died since 1967 has risen to 314, with 77 of those deaths occurring during the ongoing Israeli aggression. The Israeli authorities are still holding the bodies of 74 of them, refusing to hand them over to their families.
The statement noted that more than 60% of these victims were residents of the Gaza Strip who were arrested during the ongoing military aggression before their deaths were announced, some more than a year after their arrest.
The center accused Israel of implementing “systematic policies” aimed at killing prisoners through physical and psychological torture, starvation, denial of treatment, detaining sick individuals in inhumane conditions, and subjecting prisoners to electric shocks and severe beatings, in addition to other “unethical” violations.
The statement also mentioned that the number of prisoners in Israeli jails has exceeded 10,800, living in conditions the center described as “lacking the most basic necessities of life,” with widespread diseases, epidemics, and a lack of healthcare and hygiene.
The Palestine Center for Prisoners’ Studies called on the international community and human rights organizations to intervene immediately, form independent investigation committees to document the crimes of murder and torture, and demand that the International Criminal Court hold the Israeli officials involved in these violations accountable.
