Detention figures – According to data issued quarterly by the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), as of 30 June 2023, there were 4,839 Palestinians (West Bank, East Jerusalem, Gaza) held as “security prisoners” in detention facilities including 161 children (12-17 years). In the case of children there was a 1 percent increase in the number compared with the previous month and an annual increase of 15 percent compared with 2022. Eighteen children were held in administrative detention without charge or trial - the highest number since January 2008. According to the IPS, 72 percent of child detainees were unlawfully transferred from the occupied West Bank to prisons in Israel in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. More statistics
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Administrative Detention of children at 15 year high - According to the Israeli Prison Service, a quarter of Palestinians detained by the military authorities are being held without charge or trial in Administrative Detention. This number includes 18 children - the highest level for over 15 years. Administrative Detention orders are issued by an Israeli military commander and circumvent basic due process safeguards, such as an accused person being able to challenge the evidence against them. While Administrative Detention is permitted under international law in strictly limited circumstances, such as "imperative reasons of security", it would not be legitimate to use this practice to further an unlawful enterprise, such as the unlawful annexation of territory. Read more__________________________________________________________________________________
A Quarter of Palestinians Jailed in Israel are Imprisoned Without Charges or Trial (Haaretz) - Administrative detainees are held under a procedure defined as “preventive detention,” which is based on intelligence that is not disclosed to the detainees or their lawyers. There are no evidentiary court hearings for their cases and the detainees’ lawyers are not privy to evidence against them, other than a short summary presenting the suspicions against their clients.Administrative detention is for a three-to-six-month period but is often renewed upon completion. The detentions are approved by judges who receive an order signed by the head of IDF Central Command, as well as receiving ex parte confidential intelligence material about the detainee. Court hearings on administrative detentions are closed to the public. Read more__________________________________________________________________________________
A child's testimony - On 5 June 2023, a 14-year-old minor from Al Mughayyer, in the occupied West Bank, was detained at an Israeli police station located in the settlement of Binyamin after responding to a verbal summons. Although the minor's father was present at the police station, he was not permitted to attend his son's interrogation and was told to go home. The minor report's being questioned without first consulting with a lawyer or being informed of his right to silence under Israeli military law. At the conclusion of the interrogation the minor reports being told to sign documents written in Hebrew. He reports being released on 9 June 2023, by a military judge after his parents paid a fine of NIS 2,000 and provided a bond of NIS 2,500. He also received a suspended sentence. Read more__________________________________________________________________________________
