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 - May 2021

Detention figures – The Israeli Prison Service (IPS) stopped providing child detention figures in accordance with a Freedom of Information application in October 2020. The State of Israel no longer publicly discloses: how many children it holds in military detention; the age of these children; or the location of detention. The IPS does disclose the total number of Palestinians (adults and children) held in military detention (4,277) and from this figure it is possible to provide an estimate of children in detention based on historical percentages. It is currently estimated that 167 children (12-17 years) are held in military detention of which around 64% will be transferred to prisons in Israel in violation of the Fourth Geneva Convention and Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court.[i] More statistics 

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UNICEF Report - 8-years on - In 2013 UNICEF published findings following a review of the treatment of children held in Israeli military detention. The report – Children in Israeli Military Detention – considered the treatment of children from arrest, transfer to interrogation centres, prosecution in military courts and ultimate incarceration. Following a review of over 400 affidavits, UNICEF concluded that “the ill-treatment of children who come in contact with [Israel’s] military detention system appears to be widespread, systematic and institutionalized.” Following the release of the report and its 38 recommendations, the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs stated that it would work to implement the recommendations through on-going cooperation with UNICEF. Read more

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Senior figures attack 'obstruction' of ICC's Palestine investigation - More than 50 former foreign ministers, prime ministers and senior international officials, including two British Conservative former ministers, have signed an open letter condemning political interference in efforts by the international criminal court (ICC) to investigate alleged war crimes in Palestine. The letter follows moves by the Trump administration to sanction court officials – orders that have since been reversed by the Biden administration – and is also seen as a rebuke of Boris Johnson, the British prime minister. Johnson said last month that an ICC investigation opened in March gave “the impression of being a partial and prejudicial attack on a friend and ally of the UK’s”, referring to Israel.  Read more

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A child's testimony - On 1 June 2021, a 15-year-old minor from Beit Ummar was questioned at Etzion police station following a telephone summons from an Israeli intelligence officer. He was held for 5 hours and questioned without legal rights before being released without charge. "'Captain Khaled', the Israeli intelligence officer in charge of my village, phoned my father a day before my arrest and told him to bring me to his office in Etzion settlement. It was around 4:00 p.m. He told my father he would 'regret it' of if he did not bring me to his office and that our home would be raided and damaged if he did not bring me. The next morning I went with my father to the police station in Etzion settlement at 9:00 a.m. 'Captain Khaled' and 'Captain Hamza' came to the gate where we were waiting and started to question me." Read more

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A soldier’s testimony - "Training on civilians" - In this video a former Israeli soldier provides a video testimony to Breaking the Silence about his final training mission conducted on civilians. "In my unit, Duvdevan, the aim is to arrest wanted fugitives. Quality targets, that's what we called it ... eventually, after the grueling 16-month training course, you get to the highlight, which is making an arrest. You have to arrest someone and everyone prepares for it. But the arrest actually takes place in an ordinary Palestinian's house, who does not necessarily, in fact 99 percent that the IDF has no knowledge of his affiliation with any organization ... we'd surround the house, close in on it, call out for the guy to come out at 4 AM and throw stones at the house for him to come out." Video

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870 Testimonies                                       MCW Annual Report (2020)                                     Videos

 


[i] Due to the non-compliance by the IPS with a Freedom of Information application no disaggregated child detention data has been supplied since September 2020. The child detention figures since September 2020 are calculated by taking the current monthly detention figures (a total figure that does not differentiate between adults and children currently provided to Hamoked by the IPS) and applying the official historic child detention percentage rate based on the total prison population since January 2019 (3.9%). The forcible transfer figures are calculated by taking an average of the monthly transfer figures provided by the IPS over the same period (64%).