Hundreds Of Palestinians Held in ‘Israeli’ Jails Without Charge

By Staff, Agencies

The Zionist occupation regime is holding more than 600 Palestinian detainees without charge or trial in its detention centers across the occupied territories.

HaMoked, a rights group that regularly gathers figures from the Zionist regime’s prison authorities, announced on Monday that as of May there were 604 detainees held in administrative detention, the highest number since 2016.

The group said 2,441 Palestinians are currently serving sentences after being convicted in the Zionist occupation regime’s military courts. A further 1,478 detainees are being held for questioning, have been charged and are awaiting trial, or are currently being tried.

The last time the Tel Aviv regime held this number of administrative detainees was in October 2016 amid the regime's illegal settlement expansion plan and ensuing attacks allegedly by Palestinians in the occupied territories.

Last month, the Palestinian Prisoners Society [PPS] said the ‘Israeli’ regime had detained more than 9,000 Palestinian children across the occupied territories over the past seven years.

The PPS said in a report that the Zionist regime had detained more than 9000 children since 2015, and 19,000, including children younger than 10 years of age, since the outbreak of the second Intifada [uprising] in September 2000.

Hundreds of Palestinian prisoners are held under administrative detention, in which the Tel Aviv regime keeps them without charge for up to six months, a period which can be extended an infinite number of times. The detention takes place on orders from a military commander and on the basis of what the occupation regime describes as ‘secret’ evidence. Some prisoners have been held in administrative detention for up to 11 years.

Rights groups say the Zionist regime’s use of administrative detention is a “bankrupt tactic.”

Systematic torture, harassment and repression are all examples of the fashion in which the Zionist prison authorities treat Palestinian prisoners. The ‘Israeli’ Prison Service [IPS] keeps the prisoners under deplorable conditions lacking proper hygienic standards.

Of the thousands of Palestinians held in ‘Israeli’ jails, 160 are children and 32 are women, according to the latest figures published by prisoners’ rights group Addameer.

Several Palestinians in administrative detention have gone on prolonged hunger strikes in protest, with many developing lifelong health issues.