The Occupation authorities have significantly escalated the practice of administrative detention against Palestinian prisoners over the past year and continuing into this year, in parallel with a marked and unprecedented increase in arrests not seen since 2002.
Information indicates that the Occupation authorities issued more than 7,500 administrative orders, both new and renewed, against Palestinian prisoners in 2024, without formally charging them. The authorities claim these detainees have a so-called “secret file” and apply such measures to individuals across all social and age groups, including children, women, members of the Legislative Council, university students, academics, journalists, former prisoners, activists, as well as elderly and ill persons. As a result, the number of administrative detention orders has exceeded 10,000 since the war of extermination that began on October 7.
Although the Occupation has used administrative detention as a policy for many years, its use intensifies at certain times to a significant degree, such as during the early years of the Al-Aqsa Intifada and in 2014 following the outbreak of aggression against the Gaza Strip, ostensibly to deter Palestinian public activism and remove leaders, cadres, and influential figures in an effort to prevent any popular uprising against its crimes. This form of detention requires no more than directives from the security apparatus, specifically officers of the “Shin Bet,” permitting the Palestinian detainee to be held for months or even years without formal indictment.
Over the past year, there has been an unprecedented rise in administrative detention orders, with the majority of arrests appearing to be politically motivated or retaliatory measures lacking any legal justification. Lacking sufficient evidence to formally charge the detainees, the Occupation resorted to issuing thousands of administrative detention orders in conjunction with its ongoing war of extermination against the Gaza Strip and large-scale arrests estimated at approximately 9, 000. Most of those arrested were placed under administrative detention; hundreds were released after spending several months in detention only to be rearrested a short time later, receiving new administrative orders yet again.
The number of administrative detainees has risen sharply over the past year, reaching around 3, 400 detainees by year-end, equivalent to 32% of the total number of prisoners, which stands at 10, 400. Among these are 95 minors held under administrative detention and 22 female detainees, constituting the highest figure recorded in the history of the Palestinian prisoners’ movement.
In a further attempt to entrench the practice of administrative detention, after October 7, the Occupation authorities revoked all “final orders” (previously issued for hundreds of administrative detainees to ensure no further renewals of their detention) and instead extended their administrative orders rather than releasing them. Some of these detainees have already spent over two years in administrative detention. Recently, the Occupation’s courts reinstated the issuance of “final orders, ” but in a very selective and limited manner.
Additionally, the Occupation suspended implementation of an agreement reached with the prisoners’ movement, an agreement won after open-ended hunger strikes and prolonged protests, that set a two-year maximum limit on administrative detention. At present, there are hundreds of detainees held in administrative detention for more than two years, with the Occupation continuing to extend their detention for additional periods.
Through this policy, the Occupation employs administrative detention as a form of collective punishment against the Palestinian people, depriving them of their freedom without legal justification and disregarding the legal safeguards set by international law, which permit administrative detention only under extremely narrow and restrictive conditions. The intelligence apparatus, which fully manages this file, relies on classified “secret evidence” inaccessible to anyone, thus denying detainees the right to defend themselves or benefit from the minimum guarantees of a fair trial. Such practices form part of the Occupation’s ongoing campaign of aggression against the Gaza Strip, aimed at preventing any form of resistance activity in the West Bank.
