RAMALLAH, April 17, 2026 (WAFA) – The number of Palestinian and Arab political prisoners in Israeli prisons has exceeded 9,600 people, reflecting an 83% increase compared to pre-genocide figures (5,250 people), according to prisoners’ associations.
The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association revealed in a report that there are currently 86 female prisoners, including two minors (under 18), and two women detained prior to the genocide. Among them, 25 women are held under “administrative detention” without trial or charge.
They added that approximately 350 minors are detained, primarily in Ofer and Megiddo prisons. By the end of 2025, 180 children had been held under “administrative detention.”
Regarding “administrative detainees”, a term used to refer to Palestinians arrested from the occupied West Bank and held without trial or charge under a military order, the prisoners’ associations revealed that their number has risen dramatically to more than 3,532 detainees, including women and children, marking a 168% increase (or about 2.7-fold higher) from the approximately 1,320 people held under this military order before the genocide began.
Most administrative detainees are former prisoners, alongside students, journalists, lawyers, engineers, doctors, academics, parliamentarians, activists, workers, and relatives of prisoners or martyrs.
Regarding “unlawful combatants”, a term used to refer to Palestinians arrested from the occupied Gaza Strip and held without trial or charge under the “Unlawful Combatants Law”, the associations said that they number 1,251, excluding those held in military camps.
“About 50% of all Palestinian political prisoners are held without trial or charge,” the report said.
The report noted that the number of sick prisoners increased significantly. The vast majority suffer from illness—either pre-existing conditions, or injuries by occupation forces, or diseases developed due to the unsanitary and harsh detention conditions, torture, and denial of medical care.
It added that since the occupation of 1967, 326 Palestinians have been killed and/or have died inside the prison system, including 89 people since the genocide in Gaza began. This figure includes only those who have been identified. Dozens from Gaza remain forcibly disappeared.
The report concluded that the occupation authorities continue to withhold the bodies of 97 slain Palestinian prisoners, marking an increase of over 781% (about 8.8-fold higher) compared to the pre-genocide period when eleven slain prisoners’ bodies were being withheld.
K.F.
