Ramallah: The Palestinian Prisoner's Society has reported that Israeli authorities have detained nearly 23,000 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank since the onset of what has been described as a genocidal war on the Palestinian people in October 2023. This figure is in addition to the thousands detained from the Gaza Strip.
According to Palestine News and Information Agency, the statement released by the organization in commemoration of the 78th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba highlights that the detainees include women, children, wounded individuals, and former prisoners. However, it does not account for thousands from Gaza, where enforced disappearances continue as Israel refuses to disclose the whereabouts or conditions of these detainees.
The Prisoner's Society noted that the ongoing conflict has not only increased the number of detentions but also intensified the abuses occurring inside prisons and military camps. These facilities have become centers of torture, starvation, humiliation, and systematic medical neglect aimed at breaking prisoners both physically and psychologically.
The organization described the current period as the bloodiest in the history of the Palestinian prisoner movement since 1967, with rising cases of torture, sexual assault, starvation, and denial of medical care. The statement noted that 89 prisoners have died in Israeli custody since the war began, due to torture, starvation, or deliberate medical neglect, bringing the total number of known Palestinian prisoner deaths since 1967 to 326.
The Prisoner's Society connected current detention practices to the broader historical context of the ongoing Nakba, suggesting that mass imprisonment has been a colonial tool of control since the British Mandate period, later expanded under Israeli rule. Over one million Palestinians have been detained over the decades in attempts to weaken Palestinian national and social structures. Despite these attempts, Palestinian prisoners have turned prisons into spaces of resistance, organization, and national awareness.
The organization emphasized that efforts to undermine the leadership of the prisoner movement and dismantle organizational structures inside prisons will not succeed in breaking the resolve of the prisoners. According to the organization, Israel currently holds over 9,400 Palestinian prisoners, including 86 women, 3,376 administrative detainees held without charge or trial, and 1,283 detainees classified by Israeli authorities as 'unlawful combatants.'