Israeli Prison Service

Israel Prison Service officers prepare Palestinian prisoners for release as part of a hostage deal between Israel and Hamas, at Ketziot Prison in southern Israel, February 26, 2025. (Chaim Goldberg/Flash90)

‘I cannot help my clients’: The impossible task of representing Palestinian detainees

With Israel running its prisons as ‘torture facilities,’ lawyers point to the absence of state and judicial oversight allowing them to operate with impunity.

By Lee Mordechai and Liat Kozma January 27, 2026

Former Balad MK Basel Ghattas arrives for a court hearing at the Be'er Sheva Magistrate's Court, April 9, 2017. (Yehuda Peretz/POOL)

Palestinian MK released from prison after two-year sentence

Ghattas served a two-year sentence for smuggling cellphones to Palestinian political prisoners. ‘The conditions that Palestinian prisoners face are a central tool the occupation uses to reinforce itself.’ Former Balad MK Basel Ghattas was released from prison Monday morning after serving two years for smuggling cellphones to Palestinian political prisoners in Israel. Although his family…

By Oren Ziv May 27, 2019

Illustrative photo of Israeli soldiers arresting a Palestinian man (Activestills.org)

Number of Palestinian prisoners hits five-year high

As of the end of January 2016, Israel held 568 Palestinians in administrative detention, among them two minors, two women, and one clown. By Yael Marom Over 6,000 Palestinian “security prisoners” were being held in Israeli prisons as of the beginning of February, according to statistics published by the Israel Prison Services (IPS). This is…

By +972 Magazine March 12, 2016

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Israeli border police arrest a Palestinian youth in East Jerusalem’s Shuafat Refugee Camp, file photo. (Photo by Tess Scheflan/Activestills.org)

Number of Palestinian minors in Israeli prisons doubles

There are so many new Palestinian minors being sent to Israeli prisons that authorities had to open a new wing to house them. Rights groups report numerous cases of mistreatment, and that the children are moved outside of the West Bank in violation of international law. By Noam Rotem Israeli authorities have arrested hundreds of…

By +972 Magazine November 20, 2015

An Israeli prison guard escorts Samer Issawi, a Palestinian political prisoner, out of his court hearing in Jerusalem, January 16, 2013. Samer Issawi is on his 174th day of hunger strike, the court postponed the decision in his case to the 5th of February, 2013. (Photo by: Oren Ziv/Activestills.org)

Doctors fear Palestinian hunger striker’s life in immediate danger

Physicians are extremely worried by the deteriorating medical condition of Palestinian prisoner Samer Issawi, who has not put food in his mouth for more than half a year. Doctors are concerned by the state of Issawi’s heart, which is weakening and losing rhythm, and are assessing that he might also be suffering from brain damage…

By Haggai Matar April 9, 2013