Israel has detained more than 2,000 Palestinian children since 2023: report

Key points

• The Palestinian Prisoner's Society says Israel has detained over 2,000 Palestinian children since October 2023.
• At least 350 Palestinian children are currently held in Israeli prisons under what the group calls harsh conditions.
• The report cites cases including a 15-year-old who lost a leg and a 17-year-old who died in Megiddo Prison.

Israeli forces have detained more than 2,000 Palestinian children since October 2023, according to a report released Wednesday by the Palestinian Prisoner's Society. The Palestinian rights group said Israeli authorities are escalating their targeting of Palestinian children, with at least 350 currently held in Israeli prisons under what it described as harsh conditions.

The report said Israeli forces arrested at least six children from Hebron in the occupied West Bank on Tuesday. It added that the number of children detained in Gaza remains unclear because of the thousands of missing persons in the besieged territory, including children, and an ongoing policy of enforced disappearance.

Detention without charge

The group said Israel's practice of holding detainees without charges or a release date is an additional violation and crime that leaves children facing the unknown and deprives them of family and educational stability. It described Israeli practices that begin with intimidation and arrest and extend to torture, starvation and denial of healthcare.

real international action

— the Palestinian Prisoner's Society

Cases highlighted in the report

The report highlighted 15-year-old Mohammed Hamid, who contracted scabies while detained in Ofer Prison. He suffered severe infections, underwent heart surgery and was admitted to intensive care in critical condition, and later had one of his legs amputated.

It also highlighted 17-year-old Walid Ahmed, who died in March 2025 after six months in Megiddo Prison. In December, an Israeli judge halted the investigation into his death, saying that although there was evidence of starvation, no definitive cause of death had been established.

The report also mentioned American teenagers held in Israeli prisons, including Mohammed Ibrahim, who was released after advocacy and appeals from high-ranking lawmakers, and two others arrested in the West Bank in June and July.