28/7/2026

Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights Submits Communication to the International  Criminal Court Documenting the Deaths of Nine Palestinian Detainees in Israeli Military  Custody 

Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights announces that it has submitted a formal communication  to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), pursuant to Article 15 of  the Rome Statute, documenting the deaths of nine Palestinian civilian detainees from the Gaza Strip  who died in Israeli occupation custody between December 2023 and June 2024. This is within the  framework of the existing active investigation into the Situation in the State of Palestine  (ICC-01/18).

The nine detainees were aged between 25 and 75 years and were all in good health at the time of  their arrest. They were taken from their homes, from military checkpoints, from a civilian displacement shelter, and in two cases from Al-Shifa Hospital, in direct violation of the protections  afforded to civilian hospitals under GC IV Articles 18 and 19. All nine were transferred to Sde  Teman military detention camp inside Israeli territory, in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth  Geneva Convention. Family visits, legal access, and ICRC access were denied in every case  throughout the entire period of detention.

The deaths were confirmed through official Israeli responses to Freedom of Information requests. In every case, Israeli occupation authorities confirmed the date of death but refused to disclose any
cause of death. No body has been returned to any family. Israel claimed internal Military Police  investigations had been opened, but these have produced no charges, no findings, and no information to the families.
Six of the nine died within 20 days of arrest. Two detainees arrested from Al-Shifa Hospital on the  same date both died within a fortnight. Two others, arrested from different locations on the same  date, died on exactly the same date 98 days later. Al-Dameer affirms that these facts establish a  reasonable basis to believe that the deaths resulted from wilful killing, torture, and inhuman  treatment, constituting war crimes under Article 8(2)(a) and crimes against humanity under Article 7  of the Rome Statute, including enforced disappearance.

Al-Dameer calls upon the ICC Prosecutor to prioritise the investigation of deaths at Sde Teman as  an urgent line of inquiry, and upon the international community to demand that the Israeli  occupation authorities disclose the causes of death, return all bodies to their families, and submit to  genuine accountability for crimes committed within their detention system