DaysofPal – Palestinians marked Palestinian Prisoner Day on 17 April amid an unprecedented escalation in torture, mistreatment, and repressive laws targeting detainees in Israeli prisons, alongside a troubling international silence and failure to curb mounting abuses.
Documented figures up to April 2026 point to a difficult humanitarian and legal situation, with more than 9,600 Palestinians held in Israeli prisons in a systematic policy of mass detention affecting all segments of society.
According to a statement by the office, this total includes 84 women, indicating a widening circle of targeting to include females, as well as 350 children.
The statement said these minors face legal procedures that fall short of basic standards of justice, in addition to harsh detention conditions that violate international norms.
As part of the legal tools of repression, the statement noted that the Israeli occupation is holding 3,532 Palestinians under administrative detention without charge or trial, under a system that allows for open-ended, renewable detention orders.
It added that 1,251 detainees from the Gaza Strip are classified under Israeli unlawful combatant law, which it said deprives them of fundamental legal safeguards.
The office also reported the arrest of more than 330 public-sector employees from Gaza, describing this as a direct blow to the territory’s civil and service infrastructure.
Since October 2023, 89 prisoners have died in custody, including 52 from Gaza, as a result of torture, starvation and medical neglect, the statement said, calling this a dangerous indicator of increasingly lethal punitive policies.
Israeli authorities are also holding the bodies of 97 deceased prisoners, which the office described as a grave violation of human dignity and the rights of families.
Since 1967, a total of 326 Palestinian prisoners have died in Israeli detention facilities, according to the figures.
The statement said around 1,200 prisoners are currently facing serious health conditions, including 35 cancer patients, amid the deliberate denial of proper treatment, placing their lives at immediate risk.
It added that 116 prisoners are serving life sentences, which it described as part of a policy aimed at targeting leaders and activists.
The Government Media Office said these indicators collectively point to a “systematic pattern of violations” that it argues rise to the level of crimes under international humanitarian law and human rights law, including the Geneva Conventions, and require urgent international action to hold those responsible accountable.
It held Israel fully responsible for the lives and safety of prisoners, calling on the international community, the United Nations, and human rights organizations to act immediately to stop the abuses, establish independent international investigation committees, and secure the prompt release of detainees, especially the sick, children, women, and those held under administrative detention.
The statement concluded that the prisoners’ issue remains at the forefront of the Palestinian national scene as a symbol of ongoing suffering and alleged systematic violations that “cannot be erased by time” and, it said, demand genuine international justice.
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