Ramallah, occupied Palestine - Israeli occupation forcescontinue to carry out mass arrests in violent non-stop raids on Palestinian homes and public spaces in cities, towns and villages across the West Bank. The total number of arrests in April 2025 reached 530, including 60 arrests among children (under 18) and 18 arrests among women. This includes those who remain in detention and others later released. 

In this special, monthly report, the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society (PPS) and the Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, breakdown the key facts and figures related to the thousands of Palestinian political prisoners held by the Israeli occupation. 

These mass arrest campaigns continue amid Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza and escalating aggression in the West Bank—especially in the northern cities of Jenin and Tulkarem—which are facing mass arrests, field executions, forced displacement, and widespread destruction. These figures do not include thehundreds who are being subject to violent field interrogations across the West Bank, particularly in refugee camps and towns. These interrogations are often accompanied by severe beatings, abuse, and intimidation, targeting even children and women. The occupation also continued its use of civilians as hostages and human shields, and pursued and re-arrested formerprisoners, including some released in recent exchange deals.

With the data documented in April 2025, the total number of arrests by Israeli occupation forces in the West Bank since the start of the genocide in October 2023, has reached around 17,000 cases, including both current detainees and those later released. This figure excludes the thousands of arrests estimated to have taken place in Gaza.

In April, Israeli occupation authorities announced the killing of two Palestinian prisoners in their custody: Musab Odeili from Nablus, who was martyred on April 16, 2025 (his death was confirmed the following day), and Nasser Khalil Radaydeh from the town of Al-Ubeidiya near Bethlehem, who was martyred on April 20, 2025. It must be noted that there are a number of detainees abducted from Gaza whose families have been notified in informal ways, that their loved ones have been martyred in the occupation’s custody. Prisoner groups have not yet received clear responses from the Israeli army regarding the fate of these detainees. 

Also in April, the autopsy results for the murdered 17-year-old Palestinian child detainee, who was killed in March, were released. Doctors found that the primary reason for the ultimate death of Walid Ahmad from the village of Silwadnear Ramallah, was starvation. 

Prisoner groups also report a sharp rise in the military’s issuing of “administrative detention” orders in April, leading to a significant increase in the number of people arrested in the West Bank held under this order. As of early May, there were 3,577 “administrative detainees,” including over 100 children—now outnumbering both sentenced prisoners and those awaiting trial in Israeli prisons. Administrative detainees are people who are held without trial or charge under a “secret file” that neither the detainee nor his lawyer have access to, meaning he or she has no way of defending themselves in Israel’s structurally-oppressive military courts. 

Key Figures by Start of May 2025

The number of identified Palestinians held in the occupation's central prisons, military camps, interrogation and detention centers, exceeds 10,100 people as of the beginning of May 2025.This figure does not include all of the Palestinians abducted from Gaza, particularly those held in the occupation’s military camps.  

The figure includes:

- 3,577 Palestinians arrested in the occupied West Bank and are being held without trial or charge under Israel’s “administrative detention” order

- At least 400 children, including at least 100 in “administrative detention”. 

- 35 women, two of whom are pregnant, both in their 5thmonth of pregnancy, and one cancer patient. 

- 1,846 Palestinians arrested from the occupied Gaza Strip and are being held without trial or charge under the Israeli “illegal combatants” law. 

Before the genocide, there was a total of 5,250 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails, including 40 females, 170 children, and around 1,320 “administrative detainees.”

Note: The total number of identified Palestinians held without trial or charge under different legal pretexts - across both the West Bank and Gaza - stands at 5,423 people – meaning more than half of the total 10,100 identified detained Palestinians are being held behind bars arbitrarily and without due process. 

Since October 7, 2023, at least 66 identified Palestinian politicalprisoners were killed both directly and indirectly by Israeli occupation prison guards. This figure does not include the dozens of unidentified detainees who were arrested from Gaza and were killed in circumstances unknown to lawyers and Palestinian prisoners’ institutions. The Israeli occupation continues to withhold information about their fates, identities and where they are being held, leaving their loved ones in the dark. 

The total number of identified martyred Palestinian detainees since 1967, is now 303 people. 

Systematic violations of Detainees’ Human Rights 

Based on dozens of visits by our legal teams to detainees throughout April 2025, it is evident that the Israeli occupation’s prison system continues to carry out systematic and brutal abuses against prisoners. These include torture, deliberate starvation and denial of medical care. Prisoner testimonies reveal the ongoing spread of diseases, most notably scabies skin disease, which has emerged as a primary method of both physical torment and slow execution—particularly in the Naqab(Negev) and Megiddo prisons. In light of this worsening health crisis, prisoner organizations have appealed to the World Health Organization (WHO) to intervene and pressure the occupation to end the policies driving these outbreaks, especially the denial of prisoners’ access to even the most basic hygiene and sanitation supplies.

In terms of systematic abuse, the conditions for Palestinians abducted from Gaza held by the Israeli army are the worst. Prisoner testimonies have proven to be among the most disturbing - revealing extreme levels of torture, abuse, and humiliation. Particularly alarming are the testimonies of sexual assault, which have been prominently featured in accountscollected— including some documented in April during visits to Ofer military camp and other facilities. The Israeli occupationalso continues to carry out enforced disappearances, withholding information on the identities of numerous detainees taken fromGaza, including those who have died or were killed in custody.

Repression by armed prison forces has also escalated, with systematic raids and assaults on detainees across all prisons and detention camps. Dozens of detainees have been subjected to severe beatings, many of whom sustained injuries of varying degrees. These attacks have been particularly focused on the leaders of the prisoners' movement, who continue to endure prolonged solitary confinement since the start of the genocide.

The violent crackdowns extends to female detainees held in Israel’s Damon Prison, where there are currently 35 Palestinian women—including two pregnant women in their 5th month of pregnancy, and one cancer patient. In addition to the ongoing physical assaults, these women face collective isolation, denial of basic needs, and medical neglect, including the denial of treatment or proper health monitoring.

The situation for detained children has also dramatically worsened since the genocide began, marked by an alarming increase in the scale and brutality of crimes committed against them. This includes the escalation of arrest campaigns and rising numbers of detained children, and their exposure to the same abuses experienced by adult male and female prisoners.

The Israeli prison administration continues to systematicallyrestrict legal teams from visiting prisoners and tries to obstruct the work of lawyers every way possible. This includes imposing heavy surveillance during visits and scheduling them at infrequent intervals. Prisoner defense and advocacy organizations are also facing severe challenges in securing access to Nafha and Ramon prisons (now referred to as Ganotprison), due to deliberate stalling in assigning visit dates. This problem has recently worsened, with many lawyers banned entirely from visiting. 

The prison system also persists in its escalating its abuse of detainees during transfers to legal visits, causing many prisoners to withhold information out of fear of post-visit reprisals—something that has happened to dozens of detainees over recent months.

Prisoner groups emphasize that time is the key factor affecting the fate and lives of the prisoners. The longer they remain in the Israeli occupation’s custody, the greater the risk is to their fate and lives. 

--ENDS