Fact Sheet: Palestinian Political Prisoners

Mid-Year Review (January-June 2025)

 

Prepared by Commission of Detainees Affairs’, Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS), Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association

 

Ramallah, occupied Palestine – Israeli occupation authorities continue their systematic policies of mass arrest and abuse of Palestinians across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem.

 

The first half of 2025 was an extension of the horrific phase of genocide in occupied Gaza, which saw a severe worsening of the nature of the occupation’s crimes and policies—both in terms of systematic arrest campaigns and accompanying violations, as well as the conditions faced by political detainees in the occupation’s prisons and military camps, which emerged as yet another aspect of the genocide.

 

In this fact sheet, Palestinian prisoner defense and advocacy organizations present key specific statistical data covering the first half of 2025 based on their monitoring and documentation of hundreds of crimes and testimonies since the start of the genocide. This includes data related to the reality of mass arrest campaigns in the occupied West Bank, including Jerusalem, as well as statistics pertaining to these campaigns since the beginning of the genocide, in addition to other data concerning crimes committed within Israeli prisons and military camps.

 

3,850 Arrests Recorded in the West Bank and Jerusalem

 

During the first half of 2025, a total of 3,850 arrest cases of Palestinians were recorded in the West Bank and Jerusalem. These figures include those who were arrested and remain in detention, as well as those who were later released.

 

· Including approximately 400 arrests among children and 125 among women.

· The highest number of arrests occurred in March, with 800 arrests documented.

· The arrests span all segments of society, with young men, former prisoners, and recently released detainees being the most targeted.

· The highest concentration of arrests was recorded in the governorates of Jenin and Tulkarem, which are being subject to the longest military aggression since the Second Intifada.

· In Jenin, there were 920 arrest cases, and in Tulkarem 455 arrests recorded during the first half of 2025.

 

This widespread aggression was accompanied by the forced displacement of tens of thousands of residents from refugee camps in the two governorates, as well as the demolition of hundreds of homes, along with assassinations and field executions.

 

Other West Bank governorates also witnessed mass arrest campaigns and extensive field interrogations affecting thousands of individuals. These operations were accompanied by home invasions, destruction and looting of property, beatings, the use of civilians as hostages and human shields, in addition to organized acts of terror and threats including death threats.

 

In recent months, field interrogations, during which the resident is detained and questioned on site, have occurred more frequently than actual arrests. Field interrogations of men, women and children were accompanied by violations no less severe than those experienced by detainees in interrogation and detention centers. Hundreds of individuals reported being tortured, abused, and assaulted in various ways.

 

Additionally, settler violence in various governorates contributed to the rising number of arrest cases, particularly in villages near illegal settlements or areas adjacent to them, which are built on stolen Palestinian land.

 

Crimes Committed Against Palestinian Detainees

in Israeli Prisons & Military Camps

The occupation’s prison system continues to commit all forms of crimes—escalating them to unprecedented levels since the start of the ongoing genocide in Gaza. Key violations include: torture, severe beatings, starvation, denial of medical care, deliberate spread of diseases, sexual assaults, as well as theft, deprivation, humiliation, and complete isolation—with no family visits or communication—imposed since the genocide began.

Human rights organizations documented the killing of at least 19 Palestinian political prisoners during the first half of 2025, including 10 who were arrested from Gaza and 9 who were arrested from the West Bank. The 17-year-old child Walid Ahmad from the town of Silwad near Ramallah is among the 19 prisoners killed.

Hundreds of testimonies from detainees—both current and recently released—reveal the horrific scale of abuse, with Gaza detainees reporting the most severe violations.

The ongoing scabies outbreak has infected the majority of prisoners and is a central cause of health deterioration among thousands of prisoners. This, along with the broader abuse, poses a major challenge to organizations monitoring prison conditions.

A major and ongoing development since the genocide began is the widespread use of arbitrary administrative detention under the pretext of a “secret file.” As of early July 2025, over 3,600 Palestinians are held this way, including 87 children and 10 women, one of whom is a girl.

Administrative detention—used systematically to strip individuals of freedom without charge or trial—targets mostly former prisoners, many of whom have spent years detained without formal charges. Today, administrative detainees make up the largest category of Palestinian prisoners, surpassing those in pre-trial, sentenced, or “unlawful combatant” status.

Update on the number of Palestinian political prisoners as of early July 2025:

�� The number of Palestinian political prisoners in the Israeli occupation’s prisons has risen to approximately 10,800 people.
�� This figure does not include detainees held in Israeli military camps.

This represents the highest total of political prisoners since the Second Intifada in 2000, based on documentation available from monitoring institutions.

 

● Females: Their number as of today stands at 50 female prisoners, including two women from Gaza (this number does not represent all the detained women from Gaza).

● Children: As of today, their number exceeds 450 children.

● “Administrative detainees”: As of early July, their number is 3,629, the highest compared to those held under charges, convicted prisoners, and those classified as “unlawful combatants.”

● Detainees classified as “unlawful combatants”: Their number is 2,454.
This number does not include all Gaza detainees held in Israeli army camps.
The highest recorded number of people held under this category since the genocide. This classification also includes Arab detainees from Lebanon and Syria.

 

Key Data Since October 2023:

 

· The number of arrest cases since October 2023 in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, has exceeded 18,000. This figure does not include arrest cases in Gaza, which are estimated to be in the thousands.

· 560 arrests among women.

· More than 1,450 cases of arrests among children.

· The number of identified prisoners who were killed since the start of the genocide has reached 73, including 45 abducted from Gaza. It is worth noting that dozens of other detainees, particularly from Gaza, remain forcibly disappeared by the Israeli army.