DaysofPal- New Israeli data released on Monday reveals an unprecedented spike in the number of Palestinian prisoners who have died inside Israeli detention facilities since far-right politician Itamar Ben-Gvir assumed the post of National Security Minister.
According to the Israeli news outlet Walla, 110 Palestinian detainees have died in Israeli prisons during Ben-Gvir’s two-and-a-half-year tenure, a figure nearly double the number recorded over four decades between 1967 and 2007, when 187 prisoners died in custody.
The report follows findings published last week by 12 Israeli human rights organizations, which documented the deaths of 98 Palestinian prisoners since the start of the Gaza war.
The groups attributed the deaths to torture, denial of medical care, and inhumane detention conditions, concluding that ill-treatment has become a systematic practice across the Israeli security apparatus.
Their report also recorded a dramatic rise in administrative detention cases, indicating that the number of Palestinians held without charge or trial has surged from around 1,000 detainees in 2023 to 3,577 in 2025.
According to Walla, Israeli forces were holding approximately 11,000 prisoners in October 2025, and despite a recent prisoner exchange deal, at least 10,000 Palestinians remain incarcerated.
Meanwhile, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club reported that Israeli forces have arrested roughly 21,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and Jerusalem since the beginning of the Gaza war, in addition to thousands detained from Gaza during ground incursions.
The club said the figures reflect not only a surge in arrests but also a rise in accompanying abuses, including field executions carried out during military raids.
These findings align with a recent report by the Israeli Public Defense Office, which described unprecedented deterioration in detention conditions since October 2023.
The report listed life-threatening violations faced by prisoners, including severe hunger and extreme weight loss due to reduced food quantities, a nutritionally poor and restrictive diet imposed by the prison service, general physical weakness and frequent fainting resulting from food deprivation and medical neglect, and thousands of detainees being forced to sleep on the floor in overcrowded spaces that lack basic living standards.
The report also highlighted a widespread outbreak of scabies inside the prisons, described as reaching “epidemic” levels, as well as extreme overcrowding, with 90% of prisoners held in spaces smaller than three square meters per person, in clear violation of international norms.
In a parallel development, the Knesset’s National Security Committee is expected to vote today on a bill to impose the death penalty on Palestinian prisoners, a measure strongly backed by Ben-Gvir’s Otzma Yehudit party and one of his central demands for supporting Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s governing coalition.
Shortlink for this post: https://daysofpalestine.ps/?p=70140
