UN condemns Israel's treatment of Palestinian prisoners

Deputy head of UN Human Rights in Palestine Neil Tobin said on Wednesday that, as of September 2026, more than 9,000 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons.

Speaking at the 63rd session of the Human Rights Council, Tobin said a third of Palestinians in Israeli prisons are being held under administrative detention, while more than 1,000 from Gaza are detained as "unlawful combatants", also a form of administrative detention.

"The routine use of administrative detention – on security grounds without criminal charge or trial - continues to expose Palestinian detainees to prolonged arbitrary deprivation of liberty, torture and other ill-treatment and enforced disappearance," Tobin was quoted as saying in a post on X.

Tobin said the situation has deteriorated since October 2023, citing 92 Palestinian deaths in Israeli custody, including 17-year-old Walid al-Basha, who died in an Israeli prison in March 2025 with severe signs of starvation.

“Unless and until each death is the subject of an investigation that meets international standards and disproves allegations of wrongdoing, Israel remains responsible for every single death in custody,” Tobin added.

He called for “regular and unhindered access by independent monitoring bodies with confidential access” to all Palestinian detainees, and for the release of all Palestinians held arbitrarily in Israeli prisons.

"The reality for Palestinian detainees is horrific. As of September 2026, Israel held 9,329 Palestinian prisoners, among them about one third are under administrative detention, and 1,393 Palestinians, most of them from Gaza, detained as “unlawful combatants”, also a form of…
— UN Human Rights Palestine (@OHCHR_Palestine) September 30, 2026