Report: Israel arrested 4,000 Palestinians in West Bank since 7 October

The Israeli occupation army has arrested 4,000 Palestinians since 7 October in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem, Palestinian prisoners’ rights organisations said in a joint statement yesterday.

The Prisoners’ and Ex-Prisoners’ Affairs Authority, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association and the Wadi Hilweh Centre in Jerusalem highlighted the Israeli crimes and violations against Palestinians in the occupied West Bank after 7 October, including the ongoing arrest campaigns and the violations committed against detainees inside Israeli prisons, including systematic torture and abuse.

According to the statement, the highest number of arrests was recorded in the Governorate of Hebron, in the southern occupied West Bank, where 1,000 people have been arrested, while the number of detained women reached 150, including Palestinian citizens of Israel. As many as 255 children have been arrested since 7 October, they added.

Forty-five Palestinian journalists were detained after 7 October, 32 of them remain in detention, the statement said. The Israeli authorities have issued 2,000 administrative detention orders including new orders and the renewal of those which were due to expire.

As many as six Palestinian prisoners have died in detention, including one from Gaza who has not been identified.

There are now more than 7,800 Palestinians being held in Israel’s prisons, including more than 2,870 administrative detainees – held without charge or trial, and 260 classified as “unlawful combatants” from Gaza, noting that the number may be higher since Israel doesn’t release details of all those it has incarcerated.

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