Post by Fr David Neuhaus SJ | 31 August 2026
Palestinian prisoners in Israeli prisons
In most people’s imagination prisons are associated with criminals. In countries where the rule of law prevails, those who have committed crimes have been arrested, charged, tried, and sentenced in legal processes that discern the truth of the accusations made against them. The sentences meted out by a functioning justice system can be challenged and sentences can be reversed if there have been errors, oversights, or infringements in the process.
In Palestine/Israel (like in many other countries where human rights are not respected) there are many others who are also imprisoned for political reasons. A recent report by the Israeli human rights’ organization B’Tselem reported: “The prison system is one of several means of control and oppression used by the Israeli apartheid regime to preserve Jewish supremacy between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea. For decades Israel has used the incarceration of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians from all walks of life to undermine and unravel the social and political fabric that binds the Palestinian population. According to various estimates, since 1967, Israel has imprisoned over 800 000 Palestinian men and women from the West Bank (including East Jerusalem) and the Gaza Strip, which accounts for about 20% of the total population and about 40% of all Palestinian men.” Read the full August 2024 report, Welcome to Hell: The Israeli Prison System as a Network of Torture Camps here: https://www.btselem.org/publications/202408_welcome_to_hell
I would like to focus on two categories of prisoners held in Israeli prisoners who must not be counted among regular criminals.
Firstly, there are those who have been arrested, charged, tried, and sentenced for actions that struggle against the unjust systems of occupation and discrimination. Thousands of Palestinians languish in Israeli prisons for having committed acts, both violent and non-violent, against Israeli injustice. Most often these acts are committed against soldiers, police or armed settlers. These acts are defined as legitimate resistance by Palestinians, and as acts of terrorism by the Israeli state. It is important to point out that acts of resistance that are non-violent, for example organizing protests, raising political consciousness, defending homes and fields, are also defined as acts of terrorism in the military courts.
The “perpetrators” of these acts find themselves within a military system that has its own courts in which Palestinians are not granted fair legal process. B’Tselem has described these courts: “To all intents and purposes, the Israeli military court appears to be a court like any other. There are prosecutors and defense attorneys. There are rules of procedure, laws and regulations. There are judges who hand down rulings and verdicts couched in reasoned legal language. Nonetheless, this façade of propriety masks one of the most injurious apparatuses of the occupation. The military orders are all written by Israeli soldiers and reflect what they consider to be harmful to Israeli interests. Palestinians have no way of influencing the content of the military orders that rule their lives. The military judges and prosecutors are always Israeli soldiers in uniform. The Palestinians are always viewed as either suspects or defendants, and are almost always convicted. For all these reasons, military courts are not an impartial, neutral arbitrator – nor can they be. They are firmly entrenched on one side of this unequal balance, and serve as one of the central systems maintaining Israel’s control over the Palestinian people.” Read more here: https://www.btselem.org/military_courts
Secondly, there are those who are arrested and are swallowed up into the prison system without due legal process. This is “administrative detention”, a draconian measure, used extensively under the British Mandate. B’Tselem has described this form of imprisonment: “In administrative detention, a person is held without trial without having committed an offense, on the grounds that he or she plans to break the law in the future. As this measure is supposed to be preventive, it has no time limit. The person is detained without legal proceedings, by order of the regional military commander, based on classified evidence that is not revealed to them. This leaves the detainees helpless – facing unknown allegations with no way to disprove them, not knowing when they will be released, and without being charged, tried or convicted.” Read more here: https://www.btselem.org/administrative_detention
See also here: https://addameer.ps/israeli_military_judicial_system/administrative_detention
There are about 3500 Palestinians from the West Bank presently in administrative detention. This number does not include thousands of Gazans who have been arrested by the Israeli military and who have not undergone due legal process.
Finally, the conditions of Palestinian prisoners in the Israeli prison system are dire. The Israeli Minister of Internal Security, responsible for the police and the prison system, has taken pride in ordering that these conditions be worsened: overcrowding, limiting food, medical care, visitation rights, and deliberately causing squalor and disease. The use of torture is regularly recorded. Read here UN expert’s report:
Al-Dameer Association for Human Rights submitted a communication to the United Nations documenting the deaths of nine Palestinian civilian detainees from the Gaza Strip who died in Israeli prison between December 2023 and June 2024. “The nine detainees were aged between 25 and 75 years and were all in good health at the time of their arrest. (…) No body has been returned to any family.” Read more here: https://aldameer.org/en/?p=752 There are however many more from the West Bank and Gaza who have died in the Israeli prison system or as a direct consequence of the conditions there.
Sahar Francis, Palestinian lawyer and human rights defender with decades of experience advocating for Palestinians in Israeli prisons, talks about the political prisoners here:
https://www.972mag.com/podcast-palestinians-israeli-prisons-abuse
“Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.” (Matthew 25:34-36)