In a report released on Tuesday, B’Tselem said Israeli authorities are still holding the bodies of 80 of the deceased prisoners and refusing to return them to their families.
At least 84 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli prisons since October 2023 after being subjected to systematic abuse, including physical and psychological violence, inhumane conditions, deliberate starvation and denial of medical care, according to the Israeli human rights group B’Tselem.
In a report released on Tuesday, B’Tselem said Israeli authorities are still holding the bodies of 80 of the deceased prisoners and refusing to return them to their families.
The report listed the names of the 84 prisoners including one minor and the detention facilities where they died.
Of those who died, 50 were from the Gaza Strip, where Israel has been conducting a prolonged military campaign for more than two years and has repeatedly violated an October ceasefire.
Thirty-one were from the occupied West Bank, while three were Israeli citizens. B’Tselem said the actual death toll is likely higher, as the report includes only cases the organisation was able to independently verify.
B’Tselem Executive Director Yuli Novak said Israeli authorities have transformed the prison system into a network of “torture camps” as part of what she described as a coordinated assault on Palestinian society aimed at destroying it as a collective.
“The genocide in Gaza and the ethnic cleansing in the West Bank are the most blatant expressions of this policy,” Novak said in a statement.
The findings are based on testimonies from 21 Palestinians released from Israeli prisons in recent months, as well as research by Israeli and international human rights organisations that monitor detention conditions. B’Tselem estimates that about 9,200 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons.
Several former detainees reported experiencing or witnessing sexual violence in custody, including sexual assault, forced stripping, severe injuries to the genitals caused by beatings, attacks involving dogs, and penetration with objects.
Other testimonies described extreme abuse during interrogations, particularly in a room known as the “disco room”, where detainees said they were subjected to repeated electric shocks while being denied food and access to toilets.
B’Tselem said the findings reinforce patterns of abuse documented in its August 2024 report, Welcome to Hell. Novak said that despite growing evidence, the international community continues to grant Israel what she called full immunity, effectively enabling ongoing torture, repression and the displacement of Palestinians.
Most Palestinian prisoners, B’Tselem noted, are held under administrative detention a quasi-judicial system that allows authorities to jail Palestinians for renewable six-month periods without charge or trial.
Palestinians, including children, are typically tried in military courts, where rights groups say due process is routinely denied and lengthy sentences are handed down. By contrast, Israeli citizens are tried in civilian courts, a disparity critics describe as a discriminatory two-tier justice system.
B’Tselem also said that many bodies returned by Israel to Gaza after the October ceasefire showed signs of torture and execution, with families forced to identify relatives from photographs of decomposed and mutilated remains.
B’Tselem spokesperson Yair Dvir told Journalists that the international community must use all available legal mechanisms under international law to prevent Israel from continuing what he described as serious crimes.
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