9,500 Palestinian detainees held in Israeli jails: Rights groups

By Qais Abu Samra and Betul Yilmaz

RAMALLAH, Palestine (AA) – At least 9,500 Palestinian detainees are currently languishing in Israeli prisons, prisoners’ affairs groups said on Wednesday.

“At least 21 women and 350 children are among the detainees,” the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs and the Palestinian Prisoner Society said in a joint statement.

According to the statement, 3,405 Palestinians are held without charge or trial under Israel’s notorious policy of administrative detention.

“There are some 1,555 detainees from Gaza in Israeli prisons,” the statement said.

The figure is almost double the number of detainees held by Israel before the Israeli war on Gaza in October 2023, when there were nearly 5,240 Palestinians in Israeli jails.

Nearly 48,400 Palestinians have been killed, mostly women and children, and more than 111,000 have been injured in a brutal Israeli onslaught on Gaza since October 2023. The assault, which left the enclave in ruins, was paused under a ceasefire and prisoner exchange agreement that took hold on Jan. 19.

The International Criminal Court issued arrest warrants in November for Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his former Defense Minister Yoav Gallant for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Gaza.

Israel also faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its war on the enclave.