Israeli forces have made 10,000 arrests across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem since the start of the war on Gaza, according to a brief released by several Palestinian prisoner organizations on 12 August.
“The total number of arrests stands at 10,000 in the West Bank and Jerusalem,” the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS), and Addameer Association for Human Rights said in a joint brief released Monday.
Since 7 October, 345 women and 700 children have been imprisoned in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, according to the brief.
It adds that 94 journalists have been detained, 53 of who are still in custody.
“More than 8,322 orders of administrative detention have been issued since 7 October, ranging between new orders and renewals, including orders against children and women,” the brief goes on to say.
“Detention campaigns carried out since 7 October are accompanied by escalated crimes and violations such as humiliation, brutal beat, threats against detainees and their families, besides to vandalism and destruction in detainees’ houses, confiscating vehicles, gold and money, in addition to the destruction of infrastructure especially in the refugee camps of Tulkarem and Jenin.”
At least 22 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody, according to official numbers, the brief states. This is aside from the dozens of prisoners from the Gaza Strip whose deaths in custody remain unannounced.
The brief adds that the total number of prisoners known to be held in Israeli prisons currently stands at 9,900.
“The data does not include detention cases of Gaza, due to the occupation’s refusal to give any information and the continuation of practicing the crime of enforced disappearance against them. It is worth mentioning that the occupation forces arrested about 4,000 citizens from Gaza, in addition to hundreds of Gazans who have been arrested in the West Bank.”
It also says the data “is variable on a daily basis due to the continuous arrests.”
Israel’s already-brutal prison system took a turn for the worse in 2022 under Benjamin Netanyahu’s government, which saw the extremist MK Itamar Ben Gvir assume control of the Israeli National Security Ministry.
Last week, Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem published a report saying that since 7 October, prisons and detention centers have effectively become torture camps under Ben Gvir’s direction.
The report, titled “Welcome to Hell,” contains the testimonies of 55 Palestinians which collectively point to a “systematic and institutional policy of abuse and torture of Palestinians in Israeli prisons,” according to Haaretz.
The head of Israel’s Shin Bet security service, Ronen Bar, warned in a letter to Netanyahu and Itamar Ben Gvir in late June that 21,000 Palestinians are imprisoned in jails across Israel, referring to the issue as an “incarceration crisis,” according to a Ynet report released on 2 July.
Bar warned that the number of detainees in Israeli jails far exceeds the prison system’s capacity of no more than 14,500.
He slammed Ben Gvir’s prison policy and said the situation represents a “time bomb” for Israel.