Detention figures – The Israel Prison Service (IPS) has not updated the official Israeli government website for publishing data on the number of Palestinian men, women and children held in its facilities since December 2023. Up until September 2020, the IPS released this data on a monthly basis in accordance with a Freedom of Information application. Since September 2020, the IPS has reduced its reporting to a quarterly basis but is yet to release data for Q1 of 2024. As of December 2023, the IPS reported that it was holding 8,308 Palestinians as “security prisoners” including 137 children (12-17 years). 3,288 of these detainees were being held without charge or trial in administrative detentionincluding 49 children. According to the IPS, 49% of child detainees and 74% of adults were unlawfully transferred from the occupied West Bank to prisons in Israel in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention. More statistics
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Evidence update: solitary confinement - Evidence relating to the systematic use of solitary confinement of Palestinian children detained by Israeli military authorities as part of their interrogation is well documented leading to UNICEF recommending a total prohibition of the practice. However, since UNICEF made this recommendation there has been a surge in the number of children held in solitary for periods ranging from 3-45 days. The results from using this practice include: unreliable confessions; vulnerability to recruitment as informants; self-harm and suicide attempts. In 2023/24 children spent on average 25 days in solitary confinement and in 75 percent of these cases the children were unlawfully transferred from the occupied West Bank to interrogation facilities inside Israel in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. Read more__________________________________________________________________________________
Ofer military court re-opens for external observation – Following 7 October 2023, the Israeli military detention system went into lock-down which included excluding family members and external observation of most military court proceedings. This measure was lifted in May 2024 with limitations including: visits limited to 5 persons and accompaniment by a military officer. Prior to a visit to Ofer military court on 8 May 2024, an internal memo was circulated at Ofer military court stating: “Important Announcement – English diplomats will be walking around the court complex tomorrow. All of our hearings are behind closed doors and they are not allowed to enter the hearings, not even with consent of the defense attorney.” The next day the delegation was permitted to enter the remand court but the accompanying officer sought to exclude the group from all other hearings. This continues a trend of limiting full access to military court hearings. __________________________________________________________________________________
Democrats and Republicans undermining a viable rules-based order – Following the announcement by the Prosecutor of the ICC to apply for arrest warrants in the situation in the State of Palestine, the White House issued a statement labelling the move “outrageous” insofar as it applies to Israelis. By way of contrast, President Biden has welcomed ICC arrest warrants for Russians involved in transferring “hundreds” of children from occupied Ukraine while ignoring State Department reports that Israel has transferred thousands of Palestinian children from the occupied West Bank. Not to be outdone, Republican lawmakers issued threats against ICC staff members and their families in behaviour reminiscent of the Mafia. And if this were not enough, the State Department has confirmed US recognition of Israeli sovereignty over the occupied Golan Heights, undermining US legal objections to Russia’s annexation of Crimea.__________________________________________________________________________________
A child's testimony – A 17-year-old boy from Beit Ummar, in the occupied West Bank, describes how Israeli soldiers broke open the door to the family home and stormed in at 3:30 a.m. The soldiers searched the boy’s home destroying beds, wardrobes and glassware. Nothing was found. The boy was then tied and blindfolded before being taken to the settlement of Etzion, and then Ofer prison near Jerusalem. He reports being sworn at and beaten while being transferred. Seven days later the boy was transferred to Al Muscobiyyeh interrogation centre in West Jerusalem for further interrogation. During this time he reports being held in solitary confinement for 37 days while being denied his legal rights. He describes being held in a small cell with barely enough room to move. There were no windows and the light was left on 24 hours a day. He reports being so exhausted he sometimes fell asleep during his interrogations. Read more - [1,132 testimonies]__________________________________________________________________________________
