ICSPR On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, we affirm that what Palestinian prisoners are subjected to in Israeli occupation prisons constitutes a pattern of grave and systematic violations amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity
Date: 17 April 2026
Press Release
ICSPR: On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, we affirm that what Palestinian prisoners are being subjected to in Israeli occupation prisons constitutes a system of grave and systematic violations amounting to war crimes and crimes against humanity, and requires urgent international action
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) sent an official briefing memorandum to a number of relevant UN and international bodies on the occasion of Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, which falls on 17 April, in order to place them before the grave and systematic violations committed against Palestinian prisoners in Israeli occupation prisons, amid an unprecedented escalation in policies of repression, abuse, and deprivation of basic rights, particularly since 7 October 2023.
The Commission addressed its memorandum to the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the Human Rights Council, the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the UN Commission of Inquiry, the International Committee of the Red Cross, the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, and the International Commission for Prisoners’ Affairs, calling on these bodies to take urgent and effective action regarding the ongoing violations to which Palestinian prisoners are subjected, affecting their lives, dignity, and physical and psychological integrity.
At the outset of its memorandum, ICSPR stressed that the issue of Palestinian prisoners represents one of the most prominent just humanitarian and human rights causes, and that the continued violations against them inside Israeli prisons and detention centers reveal an organized pattern of punitive policies that are in blatant contradiction with the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and that undermine the legal guarantees owed to persons living under occupation.
The Commission explained that, as of the date of the memorandum, Israeli prisons hold more than 9,500 Palestinian prisoners, including more than 350 children, around 80 women prisoners, and more than 3,400 administrative detainees held without charge or trial, in addition to hundreds of sick prisoners and elderly detainees. It added that the first months of 2026 witnessed a marked escalation in mass arrest campaigns targeting thousands of Palestinians within the framework of a systematic policy aimed at the Palestinian people in all sectors of society.
ICSPR pointed out that one of the most serious violations is the policy of slow killing through deliberate medical negligence, as a large number of prisoners suffer from chronic and serious illnesses, including cancer, kidney failure, and heart disease, amid a severe shortage of medicine, denial of proper treatment, and deliberate delays in medical examinations and surgical operations. This has contributed over the years to the death of large numbers of prisoners, amid repeated warnings over the worsening health conditions inside the prisons.
The Commission further noted that Palestinian prisoners are also subjected to systematic torture and ill-treatment, including severe beatings, stress positions, solitary confinement, deprivation of sleep and food, and verbal abuse, in addition to degrading and cruel practices inflicted on sick prisoners and detainees during interrogation and daily detention. This takes place in a prison environment characterized by severe overcrowding and the absence of minimum standards for a dignified human life.
The memorandum also stated that the occupation authorities continue to expand the use of administrative detention in an arbitrary and widespread manner by holding thousands of Palestinians without specific charges or fair trial, while repeatedly renewing detention orders, thereby depriving detainees of their most basic legal guarantees and constituting a direct violation of relevant international standards, foremost among them the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
ICSPR also addressed the conditions of children and women inside prisons, emphasizing that these vulnerable groups have not been spared these grave violations. Hundreds of Palestinian children are detained in harsh conditions, and many of them are subjected to torture, ill-treatment, and deprivation of education and psychological care. Palestinian women prisoners also face difficult conditions, including medical neglect and degrading treatment, in violation of the special protection guaranteed to women and children under international law.
The Commission added that the suffering of prisoners is worsening as a result of punitive prison policies linked to deliberate starvation, reduction of food quantities, and prevention of the entry of basic necessities, in addition to deprivation of family visits and restrictions imposed on visits by the International Committee of the Red Cross. This deepens their humanitarian isolation and further deteriorates their psychological and health conditions inside places of detention.
ICSPR further referred to the extremely dangerous development represented in efforts to advance legislation allowing the execution of Palestinian prisoners, considering that such a move constitutes a flagrant violation of the right to life, an undermining of the principles of international justice, and an attempt to provide legal cover for extrajudicial killing, at a time when multiple human rights and media bodies have warned of the danger of this legislative path and the discrimination and direct targeting of Palestinians inherent in it.
The Commission also highlighted the issue of detainees from the Gaza Strip as one of the most dangerous emerging violations, given the continued detention of hundreds of civilians during the aggression, alongside the absence of clear information regarding the fate of a number of them, and the prevention of lawyers and international bodies from accessing or visiting them. This raises serious concerns that they may be subjected to enforced disappearance, torture, and grave violations beyond any legal or humanitarian oversight.
ICSPR affirmed that the totality of these practices reflects a systematic policy targeting Palestinian prisoners and rises to the level of war crimes and crimes against humanity, in the absence of effective international accountability and amid the continued policy of impunity, which places the international community before its legal and moral responsibilities to take immediate action to protect prisoners and secure justice for them.
In the conclusion of its memorandum, the Commission called on the international community and the relevant UN bodies to take urgent and serious action to open independent international investigations into the crimes committed against Palestinian prisoners, to exert pressure on the occupation authorities to end all violations, to ensure respect for prisoners’ fundamental rights, to release those arbitrarily detained, and to provide them with international protection in accordance with the rules of international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
The International Commission to Support Palestinian Rights (ICSPR) concluded its memorandum by affirming that the issue of Palestinian prisoners will remain a real test of the international community’s commitment to the principles of justice and human dignity, and that the continuation of their suffering requires immediate action to put an end to these violations, hold those responsible accountable, and end the policy of impunity.
