Hundreds of Palestinians in Israeli Jails without Charge: Rights Group

HaMoked, an Israeli rights group that regularly gathers figures from the regime’s prison authorities, announced on Monday that as of May there were 604 detainees held in administrative detention, the highest number since 2016.

HaMoked said 2,441 Palestinians are currently serving sentences after being convicted in Israel’s military courts. A further 1,478 detainees are being held for questioning, have been charged and are awaiting trial, or are currently being tried.

The last time Israel held this many administrative detainees was in October 2016 amid the regime's illegal settlement expansion plan and ensuing attacks allegedly by Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Last month, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) said the Israeli regime had detained more than 9,000 Palestinian children across the occupied territories over the past seven years.

The PPS said in a report that Israel had detained more than 9000 children since 2015, and 19,000, including children younger than 10 years of age, since the outbreak of the second Intifada (uprising) in September 2000.

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are held under administrative detention, in which Israel keeps the detainees without charge for up to six months, a period which can be extended an infinite number of times. The detention takes place on orders from a military commander and on the basis of what the Israeli regime describes as ‘secret’ evidence. Some prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to 11 years.

Rights groups say Israel’s use of administrative detention is a “bankrupt tactic.”

Systematic torture, harassment and repression are all examples of the fashion in which the Israeli prison authorities treat Palestinian prisoners. The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) keeps the prisoners under deplorable conditions lacking proper hygienic standards.

Of the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli jails, 160 are children and 32 are women, according to the latest figures published by prisoners’ rights group Addameer.

Several Palestinians in administrative detention have gone on prolonged hunger strikes in protest, with many developing lifelong health issues.