⭕ On the eve of Eid al-Fitr: Occupation Jails Thousands of Palestinians Amid Unprecedented Isolation  

Palestinian Prisoner’s Society 

March 19, 2026 

Ramallah, occupied Palestine - The Israeli occupation authorities continue to detain thousands of Palestinian and Arab prisoners in their prisons on the eve of Eid al-Fitr, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said Thursday evening. As of early March 2026, the number of Palestinian and Arab political prisoners has exceeded 9,500 people, the majority of whom are held without “charges,” including children and women.

The PPS stated that since the crime of genocide in Gaza, the occupation has continued to ban all communication and visits between detainees and their families. Hundreds of prisoners have also been denied the ability to spend any occasions with their families for decades, with some nearing 40 years of detention. Most have also lost family members without being able to say goodbye. These policies of deprivation and isolation have expanded unprecedentedly following the genocide and intensified further after the occupation announced the suspension of lawyers’ visits during the ongoing war on Iran. Lawyer visits had been the prisoners’ only window to the outside world.

During the month of Ramadan, repression forces carried out numerous systematic raids against prisoners as part of ongoing policies. Platforms affiliated with the occupation published one such operation led by the fascist minister “Itamar Ben-Gvir,” while the so-called “Prison Service” released footage of a large-scale repression operation in “Negev (Naqab) Prison,” in addition to many others reported by recently released prisoners. “Ben Gvir” also recently appeared in a video standing in front of a guillotine prepared for executing Palestinian prisoners.

The Palestinian Prisoners’ Society affirms that Israeli prisons have turned into one of the arenas of genocide, where torture is practiced daily, along with starvation, deprivation in all its forms and levels, sexual assaults including rape, and systematic repression. These crimes have led to the killing of more than 100 prisoners, 88 of whom have been identified. Dozens of Palestinians abducted from occupied Gaza remain victims of enforced disappearance, with their bodies still being withheld.

It is worth noting that the occupation has announced the extension of the state of emergency in prisons until the coming May. Under this extension, the measures imposed on prisoners following the Gaza genocide will remain in place, particularly the failure to adhere to the designated space allocated per prisoner, under the pretext of “security reasons.”

⭕ The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society highlights key data on Palestinian and Arab political prisoners:
* The total number of Palestinian and Arab political prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons has exceeded 9,500 people as of early March 2026.
* Among them are 79 female prisoners as of today.
* Among them are 350 child prisoners, held in Megiddo and Ofer prisons.
* The number of administrative detainees – those from the occupied West Bank held without trial or charge, is 3,442 people, the highest proportion compared to sentenced prisoners, pre-trial detainees, and those classified as “unlawful combatants,” making up about 36 percent of the total. 
* The number classified by the occupation as “unlawful combatants” – those from occupied Gaza held without trial or charge - is 1,249 detainees. This figure does not include all Gaza detainees held in army camps under this classification. This category also includes Arab detainees from Lebanon and Syria.