SAFA — Israeli occupation authorities have carried out more than 24,600 arrests of Palestinians since October 7, 2023, as mass detention and administrative detention continue across the occupied Palestinian territories, according to Palestinian prisoners’ organisations.

More than 3,600 Palestinians were arrested in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem during the first half of 2026 alone, while hundreds more were detained in the Gaza Strip. Prisoners’ organisations say the precise number of Gaza detainees remains difficult to determine because of limited access to information.

The cumulative arrest figure does not represent the number of Palestinians currently imprisoned, as it includes Palestinians who were later released as well as those who were rearrested.

Thousands Remain in Israeli Prisons

Figures released by Palestinian prisoners’ organisations in early July showed that approximately 9,400 Palestinian prisoners and detainees were being held in Israeli prisons and detention facilities.

They included 99 women and more than 350 children, while 3,244 Palestinians from the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem were being held under administrative detention without charge or trial.

Another 1,320 detainees, mostly from Gaza, were being held under Israel’s so-called “unlawful combatants” classification. Palestinian organisations have stressed that this figure does not include all Palestinians detained from Gaza.

Testimonies collected by prisoners’ rights organisations have documented severe deterioration in detention conditions, including beatings, food deprivation, medical neglect, significant weight loss and the spread of skin diseases such as scabies.

Palestinian detainees have also reported repeated raids on prison cells involving physical assaults, police dogs, tear gas and rubber bullets.

Administrative Detention Expands

Israel has dramatically expanded its use of administrative detention since October 2023, allowing Palestinians to be imprisoned for renewable periods without charge or trial, often on the basis of evidence withheld from detainees and their lawyers.

Palestinian prisoners’ organisations say more than 20,000 new or renewed administrative detention orders have been issued since October 2023.

Journalists have also been targeted in the arrest campaigns. As of September 13, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society said Israel was holding 37 Palestinian journalists, 19 of them under administrative detention without charge or trial.

The society said all 37 journalists had been detained since October 2023 and accused Israeli authorities of targeting Palestinian media workers through arrests, prison sentences, solitary confinement and prosecutions connected to their journalistic work and freedom of expression.

Palestinian prisoners’ organisations have described the arrests as part of a mass detention campaign that has intensified dramatically since October 7, 2023, while the full number and whereabouts of Palestinians detained from Gaza remain unknown.