Fewer than 30 Palestinians died in Israeli custody in the 10 years preceding the war, PHRI says. But since the war, the prison population more than doubled to 11,000 as people were rounded up, mainly from Gaza and the West Bank. Last year, the head of Israel’s prison system, National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, boasted that he had degraded prison conditions to the legal minimum. Guards were told by their commanders — who also participated in the beatings — that they needed to reduce the deaths, according to the Sde Teiman guard, who spent several months there. Husein Ali had previously served time in an Israeli prison after being convicted of association with militancy, according to his family.