Israel’s 11,000 Palestinian security prisoners breaks record

Administrative detention numbers have increased in Israel, now three times higher than during the second intifada, reports Hamoked.

The 11,040 Palestinian security prisoners are the most of Israel who has ever held, the NGO Hamoked said on Monday, using figures he received from the Israel Prisons Service (IPS).

56% or6 239 of these prisoners are held outside of standard criminal procedures, while 4,801 or 44% are held in the context of a standard criminal procedure.

Of the 6,239, 3,577 are held in administrative detention – also near Hauts other than during the first intifada of 1987-1991 – while 2,662 are detained as illegal combatants.

The number of administrative detainees now eclipses the number of Palestinians held during the second intifada by about three times, when the figures only have the level of 1,000.

Even in recent years of the second intifada and during the Intifada with the 2015-2016 knife, the number of administrative prisoners was more in the 700 range.

In the quieter years in the past two decades, figures were generally decreasing, closer to 200-300 for a while, and in the OSLO period of the 1990s, figures dropped to one or double figure.

In addition, Hamoked estimated that there are a few hundred additional Palestinian gazes held by the Israeli army as illegal combatants, which was quite coherent during the war, either because of the time necessary to treat and transfer them to IPS custody, or because the IPS does not have enough cell space.

Neither the administrative prisoners nor the illegal combatants regularly receive criminal procedures, and the two are widely criticized worldwide. But while administrative detainees have established rules, such as their cases are examined by TSAhal judges every three to six months to potentially release them, illegal combatants can potentially be maintained longer, and there are less clear procedures on manipulating them.

Palestinian West Bank terrorists are more likely to be placed in administrative detention, while Gaza terrorists are more likely to be declared illegal combatants.

Israel justifies administrative detention, claiming that there are terrorists who would be dangerous to release, but who could not be condemned in regular legal proceedings without blowing the sources and methods of intelligence of the cover.

Hamas forces do not carry uniforms

With regard to illegal combatants, Israel says that the terrorists of Hamas in Gaza are in some respects such as enemies of a foreign state, but do not deserve the status of prisoner of war because the forces of Hamas do not carry uniforms and do not target civilians in violation of the laws of war.

Critics say that Israel uses these categories in order to whiten the Palestinians in prison for long periods, who cannot or do not want to bother to bring evidence against the court.

In addition to the Palestinians above, thousands of Palestinian prisoners that Israel held at different times during the war were released either due to a lack of cellular space, or in hostage exchange agreements at the end of 2023 and earlier this year.

Thousands of Palestinians have also been charged, convicted and sentenced to terrorist crimes.