Palestinians celebrate Palestinian Prisoners' Day on April 17 of each year, which was approved by the National Council on April 17, 1974, to shed the light on the suffering of the prisoners.

The Palestinian Prisoners' Day comes with the imprisonment of about 4,500 prisoners in Israel's prisons, including (41) women, and (140) children under the age of 18 years.

Numbers about the Palestinian Prisoners in the Israeli Occupation Prisons:

• 4,500 prisoners are held in 23 prisons and detention and investigation centers.
• 41 female prisoners, the majority of whom are in Damoun prison.
• 140 children and minors, held in the prisons of Ofer, Majdou, and Damoun.
• 25 prisoners were arrested before the signing of the Oslo Accord.
• 62 prisoners have been detained for 20 years continuously.
• 543 prisoners are sentenced to life imprisonment.
• 226 prisoners died in Israeli jails since 1967, in addition to hundreds of prisoners who died after their release due to diseases they got from prisons. Among the martyrs: 75 prisoners died as a result of deliberate killing, 73 died due to torture, 7 were shot directly, and 71 as a result of the policy of medical negligence.
• Israeli authorities still detain the body of 7 martyr prisoners.
• 550 sick prisoners are suffering from diseases and they are in need of close follow-up and health care. At least 10 of them are suffering from cancer.
• 440 administrative prisoners.

The Systematic Policy of Arrests

Since the beginning of the current year 2021, the occupation authorities have continued systematic arrests, which have not excluded any of the groups in the Palestinian society, as there have been nearly 1,400 arrests since January 2021, including more than 230 children under the age of 18 and 39 women.

The occupation intelligence issued more than 280 administrative detention orders, the highest rate of arrests was in Jerusalem, where the number of arrests reached 500 cases, including 144 children, and 28 women.

Women and Children

Monitoring and documentation studies indicate that the occupation authorities have arrested more than 16 thousand Palestinian women since 1967. The first female prisoner was Fatima Barnawi from Jerusalem, who was arrested in 1967, and sentenced to life imprisonment, but released in 1977.

Today, the occupation authorities continue to detain 41 Palestinian women in their prisons, the oldest of whom is Amal Taqatqa, from Bethlehem, who has been detained since December 1, 2014, and is sentenced to 7 years. Among the prisoners, 3 women are under administrative detention.

Palestinian women prisoners are subjected to all kinds of abuse and torture that the occupation authorities use.

In addition, the Israeli authorities continue to arrest children and minors under the age of 18. The number of child prisoners in the occupation jails reached 140 children held in Ofer, Majdou, and Damoun.

COVID-19

Despite the spread of COVID-19 around the world, the Israeli occupation has escalated its violations and turned the pandemic into a new tool for the abuse of Palestinian prisoners.

According to the follow-up of the specialized institutions, the number of prisoners who have been infected with the Coronavirus since its beginning has reached 368 prisoners, including patients, elderly people, and children.

Solitary Confinement

In addition to the extensive tools of torture, the policy of solitary confinement constitutes one of the most dangerous policies, as Israel tries through it to isolate the prisoner from the outside world.

The occupation prisons administration, by decisions of the "Shin Bet" intelligence service, pursue a policy of solitary confinement, under the pretext that the prisoners constitute "a danger to the security of the state" and the existence of a "secret file".

In solitary confinement, the prisoner is kept in the cell alone, without communicating with anyone. His family is also prevented from visiting him.

Administrative Detention

The systematic policy of administrative detention is also one of the most dangerous policies used by the Israeli occupation authorities on a large scale against Palestinians.

Since the beginning of this year, the occupation intelligence services have issued more than 280 administrative detention orders, as the number of administrative prisoners in the occupation prisons has reached approximately 440, among them two minors, and three female prisoners.

Palestinian Prisoners Face Israel's Systematic Policies

Over the decades, the prisoners have been challenging the occupation policies. Many of them completed their studies, and get their degrees inside the prisons, as education has formed a central part of their tools to confront the prison administration policies.

Some of them have written books and novels, which left a significant impact on the cognitive level about the detention experience of Palestinian prisoners.

Meanwhile, prisoners' institutions affirm that the decision of the Pre-Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Court on the court's territorial jurisdiction over the occupied Palestinian territory in 1967, which authorizes the opening of an official investigation into the war crimes committed by the occupation against the Palestinian people, is an important step towards holding the Israeli occupation accountable for its crimes.