LONDON: Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, Israeli authorities have arrested 18,500 Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza, according to the latest prisoners’ report released on Sunday.
The Prisoners and Liberators Affairs Authority and the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club said that the figure includes 570 women and 1,500 children, in addition to 194 journalists, 49 of whom are still in detention.
The rights groups reported that at least 75 prisoners have died in Israeli prisons since Oct. 7, 2023, including 46 from the Gaza Strip. Israeli authorities continue to hold the bodies of 72 prisoners among the 83 who died in total before and after October 2023.
The report includes Palestinians taken from their homes during Israeli military raids or at military checkpoints. However, it does not include the complete and exact number of prisoners captured in Gaza during the Israeli military campaign in the coastal enclave.
The groups accused Israeli authorities of perpetrating a “policy of enforced disappearance” against Gaza’s prisoners by not releasing their numbers and names. It warned of ongoing violations against Palestinians amid the Israeli regime’s continuing war in Gaza, where it is accused of committing genocide, and the wider Palestinian territories.
