Palestinian prisoner rights organizations have warned that Israeli occupation forces (IOF) are currently holding approximately 9,300 Palestinian prisoners, including dozens of women and hundreds of children, amid mounting reports of torture, medical neglect, and enforced disappearance.

In a joint statement released on Tuesday, the organizations said the figures are based on data from the Israeli Prison Service up to early December. They stressed, however, that the number does not include Palestinians detained in IOF-run military camps, where large numbers of detainees from Gaza are believed to be held in undisclosed conditions.

According to the statement, 1,254 Palestinians are serving sentences, while at least 51 women are imprisoned, including two minor girls. Around 350 Palestinian children remain in Israeli custody, most of them held in Ofer and Megiddo prisons.

The organizations reported a sharp rise in administrative detention, a practice under which Palestinians are imprisoned without charge or trial. The number of administrative detainees has reached 3,350, a level described by rights groups as unprecedented and unlawful under international law.

In addition, at least 1,220 Palestinians have been designated by Israel as “unlawful combatants,” a classification primarily applied to detainees from Gaza. Rights groups emphasized that this figure does not reflect the full number of Gaza detainees, as many are believed to be held in secret military camps outside the formal prison system.

The same designation has also been applied to Arab detainees from Lebanon and Syria, a practice the organizations condemned as a clear violation of international humanitarian law and the Geneva Conventions.

Palestinian and international human rights organizations say testimonies from recently released prisoners reveal systematic abuse inside Israeli detention facilities. These abuses reportedly include severe beatings, torture, sexual assault, starvation, denial of medical treatment, and degrading treatment, particularly against prisoners suffering from chronic illnesses.

According to available documentation, at least 100 identified Palestinian prisoners from Gaza have died in Israeli custody since October 7 due to torture, medical neglect, and brutal detention conditions. The fate of hundreds of others remains unknown, as Israel continues to employ enforced disappearance against detainees, particularly those seized from Gaza.

The rights groups linked the worsening prison conditions to policies promoted by Israel’s far-right national security minister, Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has openly called for harsher treatment of Palestinian prisoners. Over recent months, Israeli authorities have implemented measures including severe reductions in food and water, bans on family visits, restrictions on access to showers, and the confiscation of personal belongings.

Palestinian and international organizations have described these measures as acts of collective punishment and inhumane treatment, carried out in blatant violation of international law and basic human rights standards.

Palestinian prisoner organizations renewed their call on the international community, the United Nations, and human rights mechanisms to intervene urgently, demand access to detention facilities, and hold Israel accountable for crimes committed against Palestinian detainees.

They warned that silence and inaction are enabling ongoing abuses, placing thousands of prisoners—many of them women and children—at grave risk inside Israeli prisons and military camps. (ILKHA)