Nearly 23,000 Palestinians from the West Bank have been jailed by Israeli authorities since October 2023, according to a May 15, 2026, report from the Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS). Women, children, and injured people are included in this number; thousands more people jailed in Gaza are not.
The group said in a statement commemorating the 78th anniversary of the Palestinian Nakba that the number does not include thousands of detainees from Gaza, where Israel has been accused of enforced disappearance against hundreds of detainees by refusing to reveal their whereabouts or conditions. Instead, it includes women, children, injured people, and former prisoners.
ALSO READ |
According to the Prisoner's Society, the ongoing conflict has not only increased the number of detentions but also escalated mistreatment within military camps and prisons, which have developed into structured environments of starvation, torture, humiliation, and systematic medical neglect intended to physically and psychologically destroy inmates.
This is the "bloodiest and harshest period" for Palestinian detainees since 1967, it further stated.
According to the PPS report, detention has been a longstanding component of Israeli policy and is viewed as a tool that impacts the social and national fabric of Palestinian society.
Israeli prisons, which house around 9,400 Palestinians, have turned into "organised spaces for torture, starvation, humiliation and systematic denial of medical treatment."
Since the Israel-Gaza conflict began, 89 Palestinians have died in prison allegedly; some of them were subjected to torture and medical mistreatment.
ALSO READ | Israel Designates Five Palestinian News Outlets As 'Terrorist' Organisations, Alleges Hamas Links
According to the report, 89 detainees whose names have been verified have perished in Israeli captivity since the start of the conflict, including those who perished from malnutrition, abuse, or intentional medical crimes.
It further stated that 326 Palestinian prisoners have been confirmed to have died since 1967, and Israel is still withholding information regarding dozens of captives from Gaza.
The Prisoner's Society also added that "mass imprisonment" has long been employed as a "colonial tactic" of control, dating back to the British Mandate period and later escalating under Israeli authority, connecting present detention policies to the larger history of the ongoing Nakba.
Essential Business Intelligence, Continuous LIVE TV, Sharp Market Insights, Practical Personal Finance Advice and Latest Stories — On NDTV Profit.