A report issued by the Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy has revealed that Israeli occupation authorities continued throughout 2025 to make extensive use of administrative detention in the West Bank, holding thousands of Palestinians without charge or trial. Those detained include journalists, writers, social media influencers, and university students, in what the report describes as a systematic policy of control with serious repercussions for Palestinian society.
The report, prepared by Alaa Al-Sharif, the Center’s lead researcher, aims to analyze detention policies in the West Bank, with a particular focus on administrative detention as a prolonged security control mechanism, and to examine its structural impact on Palestinian society.
Administrative detention is one of the most controversial forms of incarceration in the occupied Palestinian territories. It involves holding individuals without formal charges or trial, based on what Israeli authorities refer to as a “secret file” that neither the detainee nor their lawyer is allowed to review. In the West Bank, this practice is implemented under Israeli military orders, most notably Military Order No. 1651, which grants the military commander authority to issue detention orders for up to six months, renewable repeatedly.
Throughout 2025, administrative detention remained a central tool within Israel’s detention system, with no significant decline in its use. The number of Palestinian administrative detainees during the year ranged between approximately 3,300 and 3,600—an elevated level that reflects continuity with previous years and indicates the structural nature of this policy rather than its use as an exceptional or temporary measure.
The report notes that many widely circulated statistics include administrative detainees within the overall number of Palestinians held by Israel, which covers both the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. This creates methodological challenges when attempting to isolate data specific to the West Bank alone. Nevertheless, the overall trend clearly points to the continued intensive use of administrative detention.
In terms of targeted groups, data from 2025 show that administrative detention was not limited to a specific category. It affected political activists, university students, journalists, writers, and former prisoners, as well as women and children. Detention orders were often justified using broad claims of a “suspected future security threat,” without linking them to specific acts or clear criminal charges. This severely restricts detainees’ ability to defend themselves or to effectively challenge the legality of their detention.
During the same year, the targeting of journalists, writers, and social media influencers emerged as a prominent feature of this policy, in what appears to be an effort to control public space and regulate the production of knowledge, opinion, and social influence. Administrative detention was used against individuals working in media and intellectual fields without clear charges, creating a climate of preemptive deterrence whose effects extended beyond those detained to the Palestinian media and cultural sphere as a whole.
University students were also targeted, particularly those involved in student groups or public activities on campus. This constitutes a direct violation of the right to education and freedom of association, and contributes to undermining the historic role of Palestinian universities as spaces for academic debate and the production of social and political awareness.
The policy has drawn widespread criticism from human rights organizations, especially regarding its incompatibility with fair trial standards under international human rights law. Judicial review of detention orders is often conducted in closed sessions and relies on evidence that the defense is not permitted to examine, effectively stripping judicial oversight of its substantive meaning.
In this context, the report highlights the role of Israeli military courts in entrenching administrative detention through what it describes as structural complicity with security agencies. Despite the formal judicial character of review procedures, practical experience shows that these courts rarely serve as an effective oversight mechanism. They typically rely on security agencies’ narratives and secret materials without genuinely testing them against standards of necessity or proportionality. This approach transforms the judiciary from an independent supervisory body into a tool that provides legal cover for pre-determined security decisions, undermining the principle of a fair trial and hollowing out the separation of powers. The near-automatic approval and repeated renewal of detention orders reflect a structural failure in the role of the military judiciary and contribute to the perpetuation of administrative detention as a permanent, unaccountable practice.
Moreover, the open-ended nature of administrative detention—resulting from the possibility of repeated renewals—has profound psychological, social, and economic effects on detainees and their families. These impacts extend to Palestinian society at large, fostering instability and eroding trust in the legal system.
Conclusion and Recommendations
The report concludes that administrative detention in the West Bank during 2025 can no longer be regarded as an exceptional measure. Instead, it has become a systematic, long-term tool of incarceration used within a broader framework of control, targeting active segments of Palestinian society, including journalists, writers, influencers, and university students.
Accordingly, the Palestinian Center for Prisoners Advocacy recommends:
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Ending the policy of administrative detention as a form of arbitrary detention in violation of international law.
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Halting the repeated renewal of detention orders and establishing a clear time limit for any detention without charge.
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Guaranteeing the right to defense and a fair trial, including allowing detainees and their lawyers access to evidence.
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Immediately ceasing the use of administrative detention against journalists, writers, and those working in media and intellectual fields.
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Protecting social media influencers from arbitrary detention based on their digital activity or peaceful expression.
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Ending the targeting of university students and ensuring their right to education and freedom of organization on campus.
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Stopping the administrative detention of women and children, given the grave violations this entails against protected groups.
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Calling on the international community and United Nations bodies to take serious action to pressure for an end to this policy.
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Strengthening documentation and legal accountability efforts, and recognizing administrative detention—including the role of the military judiciary in sustaining it—as a systematic policy requiring accountability.
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Developing legal, psychological, and social support programs for former administrative detainees and their families.
In closing, the Center stresses that confronting the policy of administrative detention requires a comprehensive approach that protects civic space and freedom of expression, and puts an end to the use of administrative detention as a permanent tool of control—one that violates the dignity and fundamental rights of the Palestinian people.
