The Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel has warned of a sharp increase in the use of administrative detention against Palestinians living in areas often referred to as the “48 territories.” The findings indicate that a measure historically used mainly against Palestinians in the occupied territories captured in 1967 is increasingly being applied to Palestinian citizens inside Israel and residents of East Jerusalem, a shift observers describe as deeply troubling during the ongoing genocidal war.

According to figures cited in the report, data obtained from the Israeli Ministry of Justice shows that between 2020 and May 2025 Israeli courts handled at least 560 administrative detention cases involving Palestinians from the 48 territories and East Jerusalem. Appeals against these orders, numbering around 175, were largely rejected. Since the beginning of the war in Gaza, central courts have processed 297 additional cases, while the court in Jerusalem alone dealt with 376 files, suggesting a marked escalation in the targeting of Palestinian residents in the city.

Administrative detention permits authorities to hold individuals without formal charges or trial, often on the basis of undisclosed intelligence that neither detainees nor their lawyers are allowed to examine. The report argues that this system, rooted in emergency regulations dating back to 1948, has evolved into a permanent mechanism used almost exclusively against Palestinians. Rights advocates say the practice undermines fundamental legal safeguards and raises serious questions about compliance with international human rights and humanitarian law.

Legal groups and civil society organisations warn that the expanding use of such measures risks further restricting civil and political space for Palestinians living inside Israel and occupied Jerusalem. They argue that detaining individuals without due process erodes basic legal protections and intensifies pressure on Palestinian communities at a time when tensions remain high amid the continuing genocidal war