0 Israelis are possibly being held prisoner by Palestinians, while 6,279 Palestinians are currently imprisoned by Israel.
Number of Political Prisoners Currently Being Held
0 Israelis (one, a Bedouin Muslim) are being held prisoner by Palestinians, while 4,800 Palestinians are currently imprisoned by Israel. (View Sources & More Information)
“Since the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory in 1967, more than 800,000 Palestinians have been detained under Israeli military orders in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt). This number constitutes approximately 20 percent of the total Palestinian population in the oPt and as much as 40 percent of the total male Palestinian population… 8,000 Palestinian children have been arrested since 2000.”
107 Israelis are being held in Gaza (including 2 who entered voluntarily around 2016). Reportedly, more than 3/4 of them are male, a great many of them soldiers. (8 are dual Israeli-American citizens, at least 3 of them soldiers.) There are 2 children being held at this time. In addition, there are 10 foreign nationals being held. *
OCHA reports: As of February 2024, according to the Israel Prison Service (IPS), there are nearly 9,000 Palestinians in Israeli custody, including 3,484 administrative detainees (39 per cent) held without trial. These figures do not include detainees from the Gaza Strip held by the Israeli military.
Breakdown of Palestinian Prisoners
Type of Prisoner
Number of Prisoners
Administrative Detainees
465
Child prisoners
300
Female prisoners
65
Palestinian Legislative Council members
13
East Jerusalem prisoners
480
1948 Territories prisoners
70
Gaza prisoners
322
Prisoners serving life sentences
520
Prisoners serving more than 20 years
43
Prisoners serving more than 25 years
21
Prisoners before Oslo
30
* According to The Times of Israel, Hamas publicly acknowledged, in 2016, that it is holding 2 Israeli citizens. Both entered Gaza voluntarily. The two men have been deemed mentally unstable and are presumed alive by Israeli authorites. One is a Bedouin Muslm and the other an Ethiopean Jew whose family accuses the Israeli government of deliberately neglecting their son and not working for his release because he is black.
Note: Israeli sources include 2 deceased Israeli soldiers whose bodies have not been returned, but neglect the fact that the bodies of hundreds of Palestinians (some of them children) are being held by Israel under specific governmental policies. source, source, source
2023: During the attacks on southern Israel that began October 7, approximately 240 soldiers and civilians were taken prisoner, with the intention to exchange them for Palestinian prisoners.
Israel-Palestine Timeline: The human cost of the conflict records photos and information for each person who has been killed in the ongoing violence.
History of the Israel Lobby
Alison Weir's book Against Our Better Judgement: How the U.S. was used to create Israel brings together meticulously sourced evidence to outline the largely unknown history of U.S.-Israel relations.
