Detention figures
End of December 2023:

Security Prisoners

Adults: 8,171
Children: 137
Total: 8,308

Percentage held in Israel:

Adults: 74%
Children: 49%

Administrative Detention

Adults: 3,239
Children: 49
Total: 3,288

 
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Newsletter - July 2015

Detention figures – According to the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), as of 30 June 2015, there were 5,442 Palestinians (West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza) held as "security prisoners" in Israeli detention facilities including 160 children. In the case of children there was a 2 per cent decrease in the number compared with the previous month and an annual decrease of 10 per cent compared with 2014. According to the IPS, 49 per cent of Palestinian children and 90 per cent of adults continue to be detained in facilities inside Israel, in violation of Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention. A further 1,930 Palestinians were held in IPS detention as "criminal prisoners" including 27 children. Criminal offences include entering Israel without a permit, most frequently in pursuit of work. More statistics

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Comparative graph – issues of concern (2013-2015) – According to the most recent evidence collected by MCW, there has been little substantial improvement in the issues of concern relevant to the treatment children held in Israeli military detention during the first seven months of 2015 and UNICEF’s 2013 conclusion that the ill-treatment of children appears to be “widespread, systematic and institutionalized” is still valid today. 58 per cent of minors continue to report being subjected to physical violence following their arrest and 94 per cent are denied prompt access to a lawyer.  Comparative graph

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Military authority releases arrest data for 2014 – In July the Public Relations Branch of the Israeli military Spokesperson’s Unit responded to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request submitted by the Association of Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) regarding the arrest of Palestinian minors in the West Bank in 2014. According to the Public Relations Branch the Israeli military arrested 3,182 Palestinian adults and children in the West Bank in 2014. The supplied data does not disclose how many additional individuals were detained without being formally arrested. According to the Public Relations Unit this total includes “approximately” 861 minors aged between 12-17 inclusive, representing 27 per cent of the total. Read more

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Testimony - On 31 May 2015, a 15-year-old shepherd and his uncle are detained by Israeli soldiers near a settlement and released without charge or explanation 12 hours later - "I was detained near the Bedouin tent my family and I live in to the north of Mikhmas. Our tent is near the settlement of Ma’aleh Mikhmas. It was around 9.00 a.m. and I was with my uncle herding sheep when suddenly we noticed a group of Israeli soldiers leaving the settlement and approaching us. The soldiers left through a gate in the settlement’s fence and started to talk to us in Hebrew but we didn't understand what they wanted. Then one of the soldiers aimed his gun at us and gestured to us to follow them into the settlement." Read more

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ICC requests prosecutor to re-open Mavi Marmara investigation - On 16 July 2015, the International Criminal Court (ICC) handed down a judgment in an appeal relating to a decision of the Prosecutor not to initiate an investigation into the Mavi Marmara incident. The Mavi Marmara incident took place in May 2010, when a ship carrying activists bound for Gaza was boarded by Israeli forces in international waters. During the boarding process 10 activists were killed and a up to 55 injured. The incident was referred to the Prosecutor of the ICC for investigation in 2013 on the basis that the Mavi Marmara was registered, inter alia, in the Comoros, being a state party to the Rome Statute. Read more

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ICC prosecutor appeals ruling to investigate Gaza flotilla deaths - International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on Monday appealed the recent ruling by a special panel of judges that she must reconsider her previous decision not to investigate alleged war crimes committed by Israel Defense Forces troops when they boarded the Mavi Marmara ship in May 2010. Seven months ago, Bensouda had closed the file on the case, in which nine Turkish citizens were killed when an incident occurred between activists and IDF soldiers as the lead ship in a flotilla sought to break the Gaza blockade. Bensouda wrote in her appeal that the judges’ decision altered the mandate she was given under the Rome Statute that established the ICC, and dramatically expands the scope of issues the court is meant to deal with. Read more

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