The systematic rape and sexual torture of Palestinians in Israeli detention is but a PR problem for Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu. A bill allowing the death penalty for Palestinian prisoners convicted of killing Israelis, but not applicable to Israelis who kill Palestinians, has passed its first reading in the Knesset, prompting Ben Gvir to hand out sweets in celebration.

According to UN data, the death toll of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons between October 7, 2023 and August 31, 2025 was at least 75, including a 17-year-old. Yet, as is the case with the genocide in Gaza, and Israel’s illegal occupation and system of apartheid, far too many governments that profess to uphold international law and human rights continue to allow Israel to act with impunity. Their complicity is an indelible stain that will not be forgotten.

Palestinians in unlawful Israeli custody: A crisis escalating

The escalation of Israeli oppression of Palestinians and its transformation into an open genocide during October 2023, did not only result in the almost total destruction of Gaza and a devastating loss of life among civilians, but also a sharp increase in arbitrary detentions of Palestinians by the Israeli occupation.

Among those kidnapped and imprisoned under harsh, unlawful conditions are children and minors, medical workers, human rights defenders and journalists that are being kept in Israeli prisons under the military court system – a system which denies Palestinians the rights guaranteed under a civilian legal system.

Institutionalised oppression through the court system

The military court system operates under Israeli military law, which applies exclusively for Palestinians living in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Israeli citizens, including illegal Israeli settlers in the West Bank, are subject to Israeli civilian law. This creates a two-tiered legal system that discriminates against Palestinians and lacks any sort of fairness and transparency. Part and parcel of this system is Administrative Detention under which any Palestinian can be detained indefinitely without charge or trial violating both their right to a fair trial and their protection from arbitrary detention.

With a conviction rate of more than 99% in the military court system, it is more than evident that legal processes are not based on fair trial. The court system consistently fails to meet international standards, with coerced confessions and minimal evidence used to convict individuals, often in trials with little to no public access or accountability.

Rising numbers since October 2023

Following the onset of the genocidal escalation in October 2023, Israel conducted mass arrests, reportedly detaining thousands of Palestinians, including at least 500 minors. A significant portion of those were subjected to administrative detention, held without charge or trial, in violation of international human rights laws.

The continued acceleration in detentions since October 2023 goes hand in hand with the expansion of Israeli military actions in the West Bank and a sharp increase in settler violence there.

According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the total number of Palestinian detainees kept in Israeli prisons since the beginning of the military escalation exceeds 20,000.

As of October 2025, a total of 11,100 Palestinians are suffering in Israeli custody – the highest number since the outbreak of the Al-Aqsa Intifada in 2000. This number does not include thousands that are being held in military camps in Gaza where forced disappearances are ongoing.

 The detention of children and minors

Palestinian children are routinely arrested by Israeli forces, often under violent and traumatic conditions, in proceedings that fail to meet international standards for juvenile justice. As the overall numbers of Palestinians arrested since October 2023 has risen, so the number of children arbitrarily detained has risen sharply.

As of June 30, 2025, about 360 Palestinian children were reportedly detained in Israeli prisons. Almost half of them were being held without charge or trial. After being captured by the Israeli forces, they are frequently interrogated without the presence of a lawyer or a guardian, in clear violation of international law.

During confinement most of them experience ill-treatment such as solitary confinement, physical abuse and lack of access to adequate medical care. The reasons for child arrests are mostly involvement in protests against Israeli policies, settlers and Israeli military presence.

Small acts of civil disobedience such as throwing a stone against a tank can land a Palestinian child in prison.  Frequently, children are captured during (often nightly) raids of the Israeli Occupation forces during which they are forcibly taken from their families.

The abduction of medical workers: Targeting the healers

Under international law, medical personnel must be protected from arbitrary detention and violence. Yet, in flagrant violation of this principle, Israel has not only targeted and killed significant numbers of medical staff but subjected many Palestinian medical workers – doctors, nurses, paramedics – to arbitrary detention and inhumane treatment, especially since October 7, 2023.

Between 300 and 400 medical workers have been abducted since the escalation, many enduring severe torture over lengthy periods of time. Many of them have been taken by the Israeli military while attempting to provide humanitarian aid or medical assistance, especially in the Gaza Strip, where medical infrastructure has been severely damaged and Israeli occupation forces have bombed hospital after hospital.

In addition to the direct detention of medical workers, Israel has imposed severe restrictions on the movement of medical supplies and personnel, further exacerbating the humanitarian crisis.

The Palestinian Medical Relief Society and Physicians for Human Rights have reported that these detentions severely hinder the ability of medical professionals to perform their essential work, putting more lives at risk. The detentions are also part of a broader pattern of targeting the civilian population and depriving them of their basic right to health care. The goal seems clear: the destruction of the health care system.

Call to action

As the situation in Palestine deteriorates, the international community must act to address these widespread human rights violations – the evidence of which is overwhelming. This should include the implementation of comprehensive sanctions against Israel by states and international organizations to ensure that it:

• Immediately complies with its legal, humanitarian and moral obligations toward Palestinian detainees in line with international standards.
• Immediately allows the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to resume regular prison visits to all Israeli detention facilities holding Palestinian detainees.
• Immediately releases all detainees held under arbitrary conditions.
• Is held accountable through international courts for its widely documented violations and crimes against Palestinian detainees.
• Ends it genocide, illegal occupation and system of apartheid, and liberates all Palestinian political prisoners.

Individuals can join Amnesty International’s call for the release of Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya and all other Palestinians, including health workers, forcibly disappeared and arbitrarily detained by Israel using the following links: English, Spanish, French, Arabic. Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya, director of Kamal Adwan Hospital, along with other medical staff and patients who refused to leave their patients behind, was arrested when Israeli forces stormed the hospital – the last one functioning Northern Gaza at the time – on December 27, 2024. Doctor Abu Safia has been in Israeli detention for almost an entire year and has been subjected to various forms of intense torture and inhumane treatment.

Action can also be taken to demand freedom for Marwan Barghouti by visiting freemarwan.org. Seen by many as the most popular unifying Palestinian figure, he has been unjustly held in Israeli jails since his arrest on April 15, 2022, in violation of the Geneva Conventions, subjected to torture, solitary confinement and inhumane treatment.

The plight of Palestinian political prisoners must not be forgotten, and the call for their liberation must grow louder.

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