Al-Bireh:92 prisoners have died in Israeli custody over the past three years, according to prisoner advocacy groups. This announcement was made during a press conference and solidarity rally held in Al-Bireh. The groups highlighted the ongoing issue of enforced disappearance, which continues to obscure the fate of dozens of detainees from Gaza who have also died.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency – WAFA, the groups reported that approximately 28% of all prisoner deaths in Israeli custody since 1967 occurred within the last three years. There were around 9,300 detainees in occupation prisons as of early October, including 118 serving life sentences, 91 female prisoners, 350 children, 3,101 administrative detainees, and 1,419 classified as "unlawful combatants," a category that includes individuals from Syria and Lebanon.
The escalation of detention and persecution by Israeli authorities has been described as a tool for collective retribution and subjugation. More than 26,000 detentions have been recorded in the West Bank, including occupied Jerusalem, with estimates of thousands more in the Gaza Strip. The documentation of these cases remains challenging due to military operations, information blackouts, and enforced disappearances.
The detained population includes women, children, the elderly, the sick, journalists, and human rights workers. The number of detained women has exceeded 800, and over 2,000 children have been arrested in the West Bank since the onset of what is described as genocide. These detentions have far-reaching impacts, including raids, searches, vandalism, threats, and mistreatment, leading to psychological, social, and economic repercussions for detainees and their families.
Human rights organizations have expressed concern over these practices, viewing arrest as a tool for ongoing pressure and collective subjugation. Speakers at the rally called for international pressure on Israel to halt and abolish the death penalty and ensure that neither military nor civilian courts impose this punishment discriminatorily. They stressed that the protection of Palestinian prisoners is an international responsibility, not merely an internal issue subject to retaliatory policies.