Rights group says Palestinian children consistently report ‘appalling and debilitating conditions’ in Israeli prisons.
Published On 18 Mar 2026
More than half of the Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons at the end of last year were being held without charge or trial, a Palestinian rights group has said, as concerns mount over reported abuses in Israeli detention facilities.
In a statement on Wednesday, Defense for Children International-Palestine (DCIP) said 51 percent of 351 detained Palestinian children were being held in what’s known as “administrative detention” as of December 31, 2025.
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That is “both the highest number and the highest proportion on record” since the group began monitoring the figures in 2008, it said.
Citing newly released Israel Prison Service (IPS) statistics, DCIP said the figures account for Israeli prisons under IPS administration but do not include children held in Israeli military detention and interrogation centres.
“There is no available data for the number of children or adults detained at these sites, though DCIP has gathered firsthand testimonies from previously detained children describing systematic torture and dehumanizing conditions,” the organisation said.
Palestinians across the occupied territories, including children, have faced a surge in arrests and detention in the shadow of Israel’s genocidal war in the Gaza Strip, which began in October 2023.
The Israeli authorities have used administrative detention to hold many of those detainees.
A longstanding policy, administrative detention allows Israel to hold Palestinians without charge or trial for six-month periods that can be renewed indefinitely.
According to Palestinian prisoner advocacy group Addameer, more than a third of the 9,500 Palestinians detained by Israel as of March 11 were being held under administrative detention.
DCIP’s statement on Wednesday comes amid multiple reports by human rights groups detailing allegations of a range of abuses in Israeli prisons and interrogation facilities, including sexual violence and torture.
While Israel has denied any wrongdoing, in August 2024, Israeli rights organisation B’Tselem described the Israeli prison system as a “network of torture camps”.
The group, which interviewed dozens of former detainees, accused Israeli authorities of employing “a systemic, institutional policy focused on the continual abuse and torture of all Palestinian prisoners”.
DCIP also said Palestinian children have consistently reported “appalling and debilitating conditions within Israeli detention facilities”, from beatings to denials of medical care and torture, including the use of solitary confinement.
It added that the torture and arbitrary detention of children violates the United Nations’ Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Israel has ratified.
