The Israeli occupation authorities continue to detain thousands of Palestinian citizens in its prisons and detention centers without any legal justification, and without subjecting them to trials or any other legal proceedings.
Israeli prison authorities rely on the collaboration between security agencies on one side and the Israeli judiciary on the other, where the latter resorts to enacting and issuing new laws aimed at keeping as many Palestinians as possible in detention. This is a clear indication of Israel’s persistence in seeking revenge against Palestinians or for political calculations related to upcoming exchange deals, according to observers.
The British newspaper The Guardian revealed that the Israeli authorities arrested 6,000 Palestinians under the “Illegal Combatants” law, which allows indefinite imprisonment without charge or trial, according to official data released after legal appeals
According to The Guardian, among those detained for long periods without charge or trial are workers in the medical field, teachers, civil service employees, journalists, writers, patients, people with disabilities, children, and women.
The Guardian adds in its investigation that Israeli data reveals a stark contradiction: in May 2024, only 1,450 detainees were classified as actual fighters in the military intelligence database. In contrast, Israel had to release over 2,000 civilian detainees after it became clear that they had no connection to armed activities.
Secret Israeli military data revealed that only one out of every four detainees from Gaza is classified as a fighter by Israeli military intelligence, while the majority of detained Palestinians are civilians held without charge or trial in prisons where widespread violations occur.
The “Illegal Combatants” law is considered one of the most dangerous tools Israel uses to arrest Palestinians from Gaza, as it allows indefinite detention without charge or trial. Under this law, detainees can be prevented from meeting with a lawyer for up to 180 days, and they are prohibited from appearing before a judge for up to 75 days. Local and international human rights organizations have described this legislation as a legal cover for what is called “forced disappearance” and a means to facilitate “mass detention of civilians,” in blatant violation of international laws and treaties that guarantee special protection for civilians during wartime.
Human rights organizations operating in the Palestinian territories report that field data indicates that the vast majority of detainees are civilians with no involvement in military activities, and the percentage of civilians among the detainees is much higher than what Israel announces. At most, one in every six or seven detainees is linked to an armed faction.
These organizations argue that the issue is not just the number or identity of the detainees, but the legal framework itself that allows these violations to continue. The Israeli law is a tool to justify the forced disappearance of hundreds, if not thousands, of people, and the provisions of the “Illegal Combatants” law are designed to allow the indefinite detention of individuals without charge or trial, with the possibility of depriving them of communication with a lawyer for extended periods. This effectively means that thousands of Palestinians are outside any judicial oversight or legal protection, in a practice that the United Nations has repeatedly described as “forced disappearance.”
Since 2005, the Israeli occupation has applied this law to Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip, stripping them of the rights to judicial review, legal procedures, and a fair trial.
Following the Israeli aggression on Gaza, which began in October 2023, the occupation authorities issued a decision to classify all detainees from Gaza as “Illegal Combatants.”
