Israel Admits Holding Over 10,000 Palestinians, Including 400 Children, While Hiding Thousands from Gaza
Occupied Palestine (Quds News Network)- Israel says it is holding more than 10,100 Palestinians in its jails as of May 2025, stated prisoners’ rights groups, who also warn the real number is much higher.
These figures only include those Israel officially admits to detaining. They do not cover thousands of others — especially from Gaza — who remain forcibly disappeared in Israeli military camps and secret facilities.
According to the latest joint update by Palestinian prisoner advocacy organizations, the declared numbers include at least 400 children and 35 women. Israel is also holding 3,577 Palestinians under administrative detention without charges or trials.
The number of detainees from Gaza registered as “unlawful combatants” stands at 1,846, but this count excludes those abducted and hidden by Israeli forces, particularly during and after the October 2023 genocide in Gaza.
Israel brands all Gaza detainees as “unlawful combatants”—a legal loophole created by a 2002 law to allow indefinite detention without charges.
Before the genocide, Israel held over 5,250 Palestinian detainees. That included 40 women, 170 children, and 1,320 administrative detainees.
Human rights groups stated that Israel uses mass arrests, military raids, and secret detentions as part of its war campaign. Many of the disappeared have not been allowed access to lawyers or visits from family or international monitors. The full scope of their fate remains unknown.
