🔴 65 Palestinian High School Children Held Behind Bars by Israeli Occupation; Deprived of Matriculation Exams

Palestinian Prisoner’s Society

June 20, 2026

Ramallah, occupied Palestine– Some 65 Palestinian secondary school students are currently being held in Israeli occupation prisons and are being barred from sitting their final matriculation exams, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) said in a statement on Saturday based on data provided by the Palestinian Ministry of Education.

Their situation mirrors that of hundreds of other detained Palestinian students of various educational levels. Since the start of the genocide, these students have faced harsh conditions, including torture, abuse, and ill-treatment, in addition to being deprived of the warmth of their families and one of their most fundamental rights: the right to education.

The PPS added that the arrest and imprisonment of school children of all ages by the IOF has severely intensified since the start of the genocide. The organization explained that this escalation came within the context of profound and dangerous changes affecting prisoners’ conditions and detention circumstances, including child prisoners. 

Israeli occupation authorities have reversed and cancelled all the gains made by the prisoners movement over decades of struggle, for basic rights - foremost among them the right to education. Prisoners’ right to education had long been one of the most significant rights for which they fought. Despite repeated attempts by prison authorities to deprive them of this right, prisoners succeeded in establishing and preserving it. However, with the onset of the genocide, the prison system stripped prisoners of all their rights and transformed prisons into open spaces for continuous torture and abuse around the clock.

The PPS stressed that the prison system is currently implementing a comprehensive policy of systematic torture, humiliation, and abuse aimed at breaking prisoners psychologically and physically. These practices, it said, affect child prisoners and detained students as well.

The PPS called on international human rights organizations, United Nations bodies concerned with human rights, children’s rights, and the right to education to assume their responsibilities regarding the escalating violations against detained Palestinian students. It urged them to act urgently to pressure Israeli occupation authorities to end the policy of targeting students and depriving them of education, ensure protection for imprisoned children and students, and put an end to systematic torture policies that, according to the organization, constitute blatant violations of international humanitarian law, the Convention on the Rights of the Child, and the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.