Administrative Detention

Administrative detention is when an individual is detained indefinitely without being convicted of, charged with, or tried for a crime. Israel holds Palestinians under administrative detention on alleged secret information. In the vast majority of cases, neither the detainee nor their lawyer are informed of the reasons for the detention or given access to this information. Administrative detention is permitted under international law in extreme cases, but the Israeli authorities have been found to use it against Palestinians in a routine and sweeping manner. Administrative detention is renewed for as long as the Israeli state sees fit, with some detainees being incarcerated for months or even years without a trial or a criminal charge.

Israel has been using administrative detention in order to arrest Palestinians without the need for a fair trial since the 1950s, but the use of the practice in historic Palestine, goes back to the British Mandate period. Today, administrative detainees endure harsh conditions without having received a guilty conviction. Palestinians are overrepresented in Israeli administrative detention, which reflects Israel’s general policy against Palestinians. It has been noted how Israel uses administrative detention against Palestinians as both a punitive measure and as a form of collective punishment. Palestinian legislative council members, as well as journalists and vocal advocates for Palestinian rights, have been held under administrative detention.

Over the past few years, there had been around 4000-5000 Palestinians political prisoners held by Israel at any point in time, many of whom are in administrative detention.¹ Yet, cases of mass arrests and administrative detention of Palestinians rose even dramatically from October 2023.² Between then and August 2024, Israel had arrested over 10,000 Palestinians. As of September 2024, there are a total of 9900 Palestinian political prisoners held by Israel, of whom 3332 are in administrative detention.³