ICSPR Issues a Fact Sheet Titled “The Reality of Palestinian Prisoners Under Israeli Legal Amendments”
Date: April 18, 2026
Press Release
ICSPR Issues a Fact Sheet Titled “The Reality of Palestinian Prisoners Under Israeli Legal Amendments”
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) has issued a fact sheet prepared by lawyer and researcher Adham Khader Al-Majdalawi, titled: “The Reality of Palestinian Prisoners Under Israeli Legal Amendments.” The paper examines the conditions of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli occupation prisons amid an unprecedented escalation in violations and discriminatory legislation during 2025–2026.
In its introduction, the paper affirms that the current phase represents a continuation of the crime of genocide against the Palestinian people, which has also extended to prisoners inside detention facilities. These prisons have been transformed into environments of systematic torture and continuous abuse, as part of policies aimed at slow killing and extrajudicial execution, alongside the enactment of Israeli legislation through the Knesset that provides legal cover for such practices.
The paper aims to highlight the most significant Israeli legal amendments targeting Palestinian prisoners over the past two years, and the resulting erosion of legal safeguards and serious violations of international humanitarian law and human rights law.
It presents a set of figures and data indicating that the number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli prisons exceeds 9,600, including 84 female prisoners and 350 children, in addition to 3,532 administrative detainees and 1,251 detainees classified as “unlawful combatants.” The paper also documents approximately 21,000 arrest cases during 2025, including more than 600 children and around 200 women, as well as the deaths of 32 prisoners during the same year as a result of torture and medical neglect. Administrative detainees constitute approximately 49% of the total prison population.
The paper further highlights an unprecedented legislative escalation, marked by the adoption of a set of laws and measures that institutionalize repression and systematic violations. These include the declaration of a “transitional state of emergency” in prison administration, the expansion of administrative detention powers, revocation of citizenship and residency, imposition of house arrest, punishment of prisoners’ families, expansion of police powers in incitement cases, and the continued use of remote trials, all of which undermine the right to a fair trial.
It also addresses the policy of systematic medical neglect, noting that around 5,000 prisoners suffer from illness or injury inside Israeli prisons, with dozens having died due to deliberate denial of medical care, in addition to the continued withholding of prisoners’ bodies, in a grave violation of human dignity.
The paper examines the “unlawful combatants” classification system used to detain Gaza detainees for prolonged periods without clear charges or legal guarantees, while severely restricting access to legal counsel, reflecting a dangerous erosion of justice mechanisms.
In a particularly alarming development, the paper highlights the Israeli Knesset’s approval of a law imposing the death penalty on Palestinian prisoners, which was passed in its final reading on March 30, 2026. The law does not require unanimous judicial approval, does not allow for pardon or sentence reduction, and mandates execution within a period not exceeding 90 days. This constitutes a grave violation of the right to life, undermines fair trial guarantees, and amounts to a war crime and a crime against humanity under international law.
In its conclusion, the paper affirms that the occupation system relies on legalizing violations through legislative and judicial tools that entrench impunity, with clear complicity in providing cover for crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners.
ICSPR recommended the need to comply with the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice, dismantle the Israeli military judicial system, and initiate independent international investigations into violations against prisoners. It also called for rejecting the death penalty law and taking urgent action to halt its implementation, ending the policy of arbitrary administrative detention, and enabling the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit prisoners and monitor detention conditions without restrictions.
The Commission emphasized that the violations faced by Palestinian prisoners constitute a comprehensive system of grave abuses that require urgent international action to ensure accountability and guarantee the protection of prisoners in accordance with international law.
To read the full paper, click here
