29 April 2025 – Union for Justice
Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons are currently enduring what has been described as the harshest and most severe conditions since the beginning of the Israeli occupation in 1967. Reports reaching both local and international human rights organizations from inside detention facilities represent only a fraction of the widespread and systematic violations of human rights.
These violations range from severe torture leading to death, sexual assaults, brutal beatings, and various forms of humiliation and psychological degradation, to the denial of medical treatment and urgent surgeries, the spread of infectious diseases, and severe overcrowding in detention cells.
In addition, detainees are often denied visits from family members, legal counsel, and representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross. They are also deprived of access to outdoor areas (referred to as “al-Fura”), suffer from food scarcity and malnutrition to the extent of emaciation, and are deprived of basic hygiene materials, clean clothing, regular bathing, and exposure to sunlight. These are but brief headings summarizing the daily suffering of thousands of Palestinians deprived of their liberty in Israeli prisons.
As of mid-April 2025, the number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons exceeded 9,900. This figure excludes detainees from the Gaza Strip, who are subjected to the crime of enforced disappearance. Among the detainees are 29 women and approximately 400 children under the age of 18.
Over 3,500 Administrative Detainees
Of the total detainees, around 3,500 are held under administrative detention, including four women and over 100 children. Since October 7, 2023, the number of administrative detainees has surged to the highest level in the history of the Palestinian prisoner movement since the beginning of the occupation. Prior to the war, this number stood at 1,320 detainees.
Upon examination of the administrative detainees’ profiles, it is evident that many are former prisoners who have previously spent years in Israeli prisons. Others include school and university students, journalists, human rights defenders, lawyers, engineers, doctors, academics, members of parliament, activists, laborers, and first-degree relatives of martyrs and prisoners—among them the sisters of martyrs and wives of detainees.
Historically, the Israeli authorities have systematically used administrative detention against Palestinians since the onset of the occupation of Palestinian territories. Over the decades, tens of thousands of Palestinians have been held without charge or trial under this policy.
A British-Era Law, Secret Files, and a Rubber-Stamp Judiciary
Administrative detention, as implemented by Israeli authorities in the occupied Palestinian territories, is based on Article 111 of the Emergency Defense Regulations enacted by the British Mandate in 1945. Numerous international human rights organizations—most notably Human Rights Watch—consider Israel’s extensive use of administrative detention against Palestinians without charge or trial a blatant violation of international legal standards.
Israel may be the only country in the world that uses such a form of detention on such a scale, incarcerating thousands of Palestinians not on the basis of concrete charges, but preemptively, on the grounds of suspected future threats to security. This effectively places the Israeli Security Agency (Shin Bet) in charge of deciding who is subjected to administrative detention, in coordination with military commanders in the occupied territories.
The Shin Bet bases its detention orders on what is referred to as a “secret file,” which neither the detainee nor their legal counsel is allowed to access. This file is submitted to the judiciary, which generally complies with the security agency’s request—meaning that the decisive authority in such cases lies with intelligence officers, not judges.
Thus, the Israeli intelligence apparatus effectively takes the law into its own hands, while the judiciary merely serves as a conduit for legitimizing security policies. The judiciary lacks impartiality and independence and is significantly influenced by the state’s security considerations, often under the pretext of serving Israel’s “supreme national interests.” This occurs despite the clear contradiction between administrative detention and the principles of international humanitarian law, particularly the Fourth Geneva Convention, and established human rights norms.
Administrative detention constitutes a form of collective punishment prohibited under international law. It is intrinsically linked to the political situation in the occupied Palestinian territories and serves as an official policy instrument of the occupying power.
What exacerbates the suffering of administrative detainees is the psychological toll: neither the detainee nor their family knows the date of release. Renewal orders are typically issued just days before the scheduled release—or even on the same day.
In many cases, detainees are re-arrested immediately after their release, sometimes at the prison gates. Human rights organizations have documented hundreds of cases in which individuals were placed under administrative detention immediately following the completion of their original sentence.
Administrative Detention in Numbers
According to official human rights organizations, Israeli authorities have issued over 50,000 administrative detention orders against Palestinians since 1967, including both new and renewed orders. The highest recorded number of administrative detainees occurred in 1989, during the peak of the First Intifada, with a total of 1,794 detainees.
These orders escalated significantly during the Second Intifada, which began in September 2000. Between that time and June 2017, Israeli authorities issued approximately 27,000 administrative detention orders.
In subsequent years, the number of administrative detention orders was as follows:
– 2018: 912 orders
– 2019: 1,035 orders
– 2020: 114 orders
– 2021: 1,595 orders
– 2022: 2,349 orders
The most significant shift in the use of administrative detention occurred following the outbreak of Israel’s war on the Gaza Strip on 7 October 2023. Human rights estimates indicate that over 10,000 administrative detention orders have been issued since the beginning of the war. As previously noted, the number of administrative detainees as of April 2025 has reached approximately 3,500 individuals.
Administrative Detention: A New and Alarming Threshold
Attorney Mazen Abu Aoun, of the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, stated in a testimony to Union for Justice:
“Administrative detentions after October 7 have surged to unprecedented numbers. Even more concerning is the fact that some prisoners who had been charged under formal indictments were later transferred to administrative detention.”
He added:
“Conditions for administrative detainees are no different—if not worse—than those of other prisoners. What adds to their suffering is the intense psychological pressure of not knowing when they will be released.”
Abu Aoun also recounted that some detainees he met during court sessions reported not having changed their clothes in over 12 months, and that food provided to them is barely sufficient to keep them alive.
He continued:
“Prior to October 7, a customary practice in Israeli courts was that administrative detention would not exceed two years. That informal limit no longer exists. Now, administrative detention is being applied for even the most minor pretexts—such as a few words posted on social media—under the pretext of ‘incitement’.”
According to Abu Aoun, the Israeli Supreme Court, which already had only a marginal role in reviewing such detentions, has now lost its influence entirely. Court decisions are no longer binding on the military prosecution.
He emphasized that administrative detention is a form of arbitrary detention that lacks evidentiary basis and violates basic principles of justice, namely the legal doctrines that “an accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty” and that “no punishment shall be imposed without legal basis and proof.”
Abu Aoun further noted that the suffering of detainees has significantly increased under the current far-right Israeli government, led by figures such as National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, who has publicly boasted about his policies towards prisoners, even posting videos from within prison facilities. This has, in turn, contributed to a noticeable rise in the number of overall detainees—especially administrative detainees.
Administrative Detention as a Political Tool
A recently released administrative detainee—who spent nearly two years in custody—told Union for Justice in a statement:
“The rate of administrative detentions increased dramatically after October 7. These detentions are primarily politically motivated, followed by security pretexts. The Israeli authorities resort to administrative detention when the military prosecution and intelligence services are unable to produce an indictment—mainly to protect their sources of information.”
The detainee, who chose to remain anonymous, emphasized that the role of defense attorneys in administrative detention cases is largely ceremonial, merely to maintain the formal structure of the proceedings, which include four parties: the judge, the military prosecutor, the detainee, and the lawyer.
He stated:
“The lawyer cannot challenge the charges, question the intelligence services, or access the secret file.”
He also noted a recent shift in practice within Israeli prisons: even when there are clear confessions, whether by the detainees themselves or others, the intelligence services prefer administrative detention. This occurs despite the prosecution having sufficient material to issue formal indictments.
According to prisoners’ discussions, this may be a preemptive strategy by the intelligence services, anticipating potential prisoner exchange deals with the resistance in Gaza. Such deals typically include provisions prohibiting the re-arrest of former detainees on the same charges for which they were previously convicted.
Thus, administrative detention may be used as a legal workaround to re-arrest released prisoners in future exchange agreements.
