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 - September 2014

 

Detention figures – According to the Israeli Prison Service (IPS), as of 31 August 2014, there were 5,505 Palestinians held as 'security prisoners' in Israeli detention facilities including 201 children. In the case of children this represents an increase of 5 per cent compared with the previous month and an annual increase of 0.5 per cent compared with 2013. According to the IPS, 47 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 2,006 Palestinians were held in IPS detention as "criminal prisoners" including 28 children. Criminal offences include entering Israel without a permit, most frequently in pursuit of work. More statistics

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MCW Progress Report – Children in Military Custody – 2 Years On - In June 2012, a delegation of UK lawyers published the report – Children in Military Custody (UK Report). The Foreign Office funded report reviewed how children are treated in Israel’s military court system taking into account both the legal framework and practice. The report found breaches of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Fourth Geneva Convention and concluded by making 40 specific recommendations. Two years on, MCW has published a report that reviews progress made in implementing the UK Report’s recommendations and finds that just 5 per cent have been substantially implemented. Read more

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+972mag – Despite reforms, IDF still mistreating Palestinian children - Nearly two years after Israel said it would work to improve its treatment of the Palestinian children it detains, there have been a few small positive developments. But ill-treatment of Palestinian minors still appears to be 'widespread, systematic and institutionalized,’ a report by MCW says. In September 2011, a delegation of nine lawyers from the UK, including a former attorney general and Court of Appeal judge, visited Israel-Palestine to investigate the treatment of children in Israel’s military judicial system. The resulting report – Children in Military Custody – found that Israel’s military detention of children violated at least six articles of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and two articles of the Fourth Geneva Convention. Read more

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Evidence of possible hostage taking - MCW has obtained evidence of a possible hostage taking incident which took place in the West Bank village of Deir Nidham in May 2014. The following account is taken from four testimonies collected from individuals involved in the incident. At around 5:30 p.m., on 19 May 2014, a 17-year-old youth was detained by Israeli soldiers at a temporary checkpoint set up at the entrance to the village of Deir Nidham, situated 15 kilometres north of Ramallah. Although not arrested, the youth was handcuffed and detained by soldiers manning the checkpoint. He was not told why he was being detained, but was told to telephone his family and ask someone to bring his ID card to the soldiers, which he did. Read more

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Testimony – On 8 August 2014, a 17-year-old boy from Wadi Fukin, in the West Bank, is arrested by Israeli soldiers at 3:00 a.m. and released eight days later. “I was asleep when my father woke me up and told me that Israeli soldiers were surrounding our house. It was 3:00 a.m. There was knocking at the door and my father answered it. Four soldiers entered the house. They asked my father for the family’s identity cards. One of the soldiers compared our names to a list he had and then told my father they were going to arrest me. They gave my father a document with details about my arrest and told him they were going to take me to Etzion and Kiryat Arba claiming the reason was because I was a terrorist.” Read more

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Lack of effective remedies - According to a recent report, a year-and-a-half after the Turkel Commission published recommendations for improving the way Israel investigates suspected violations of the laws of war, the army has yet to implement key suggestions. The report gives a number of examples of the failure to implement the Commission’s recommendations, including including no legislation passed to bring Israeli criminal law into compliance with international law. The report also notes that according to two human rights groups the system in place to investigate suspected crimes against Palestinians suffers from “serious systemic problems that make it unable to conduct professional investigations”. Read more

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ICC prosecutor explains why it is up to the Palestinian Authority to confer jurisdiction on the Court: Under the laws of the Hague court, the prosecutor can only investigate alleged war crimes in Palestine if it grants the Court jurisdiction in its territory. It has not done so. “Has the international criminal court avoided opening an investigation into alleged war crimes in Gaza due to political pressure, as suggested in an article published in the Guardian earlier this week? The answer is an unequivocal “no”. As prosecutor of the ICC, I reject any suggestion of this in the strongest terms. When an objective observer navigates clear of the hype surrounding this issue, the simple truth is that my office has never been in a position to open such an investigation due to lack of jurisdiction. Read more

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Is the P.A. stalling Gaza war crimes probe? - The Palestinian Authority has so far prevented the launch of a formal investigation into the alleged war crimes committed by Israel and Palestinian factions during the 50-day Gaza war last July and August, according to officials at the International Criminal Court. In a confidential letter obtained exclusively by Al Jazeera's Investigative Unit, ICC's top prosecutor Fatou Bensouda says she "did not receive a positive confirmation" from PA Foreign Minister Riad Malki that the request, submitted by the Palestinian justice minister for an international investigation, had the Palestinian government's approval. Read more

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UN Security Council resolutions listed and summarised - The UN Charter gives primary responsibility for maintaining international peace and security to the Security Council. The Security Council consists of 10 elected and five permanent members (China, US, France, UK and the Russian Federation). In contrast to General Assembly resolutions, a resolution of the Security Council is legally binding. In order for a Security Council resolution to pass, it must be supported by at least nine members. If any one of the five permanent members of the Security Council casts a negative vote, then the resolution fails (the veto power). The Security Council has adopted more than 30 resolutions relating to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict since 1967 and has repeatedly confirmed the applicability of the Fourth Geneva Convention to the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem. Read more

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ABC Four Corners – Stone Cold Justice – A joint investigation by Four Corners and The Australian newspaper aired on Australian national television. The investigation reveals evidence that shows the army is targeting Palestinian boys for arrest and detention. Reporter John Lyons travels to the West Bank to hear the story of children who claim they have been taken into custody, ruthlessly questioned and then allegedly forced to sign confessions before being taken to court for sentencing.The program focuses on the stories of three boys. In two cases the army came for the children in the middle of the night, before taking them to unknown locations where they are questioned. A mother of one of the boys described the scene. See film