Yesterday, Friday 5 September, marked 700 days of the Israel’s genocide in Gaza and, to mark this day, the Ramallah-based Palestinian Prisoner’s Society issued a briefing, highlighting the key facts and figures surrounding the issue of Palestinian political prisoners in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, where the total number of arrests recorded has exceeded 19,000. This includes those who remain in detention as well as those who were later released. As of 5 September, there are 11,100 political detainees in Israeli occupation prisons, which does not include arrests in Gaza, estimated to be in the thousands.

Israel holding huge numbers of Palestinians

Women: The total number of arrests recorded among women since the beginning of the genocide has exceeded 585 cases. As of September 5, the number is 49. This figure does not include women arrested directly from Gaza, who are estimated to be in the dozens.

Children: The number of arrests recorded among children in the occupied West Bank is no less than 1550. There are currently 400 children in Israeli prisons.

Martyred detainees: 77 Palestinian prisoners have been killed in the Israeli occupation’s custody since the start of the genocide. This figure includes only those who have been identified, with dozens of others killed and subject to enforced disappearances, particularly from Gaza. Among the 77 killed are 46 people who were arrested from Gaza.

The bodies of 74 of the 77 identified martyred prisoners are still held by the occupation. They are among a total of 85 identified martyred prisoners whose bodies are withheld by the occupation.

Administrative detainees: There are currently 3577 Palestinian who are in prison under administrative detention in the West Bank, meaning they are held indefinitely, without trial or charge.

Since the start of the genocide, there has been no clear estimate of the number of Palestinians arrested in Gaza and held in the occupation’s prisons and military camps. The only available figure is that which has been declared by the Israeli prison administration, which classifies 2662 detainees as ‘unlawful combatants’, all of whom are held without trial or charge. Human rights institutions have been unable to document the total number of arrests from Gaza, due to the crime of enforced disappearance imposed by the occupation. Their number is estimated to be in the thousands.

Featured image via the Canary

By Charlie Jaay

This post was originally published on Canary.