Overview

In 2026, detention conditions for Palestinians held for alleged security offenses remain extremely harsh. More than 9,000 Palestinian prisoners and detainees (administrative detainees and detainees under the Incarceration of Unlawful Combatants Law), are subjected to violence, degradation, overcrowding, starvation, and neglect, including medical neglect.

As a result of these incarceration conditions, inmates have been released from custody with irreversible physical injuries, including amputations. Moreover, according to Physicians for Human Rights – Israel (PHRI) figures, at least 103 Palestinians, including a 17-year-old boy, died in Israeli custody between October 2023 and March 2026, due to severe injuries, lack of medical treatment and harsh living conditions. This is a record number, which attests to the gravity of the situation.

Nevertheless, as far as is known, no indictments have been filed against any soldier or prison guard in relation to a death in custody, and there is only one known case in which a soldier was convicted of abusing detainees during their transfer from the Gaza Strip to a detention facility.

The Incarceration Emergency Order issued for Israel Prison Service (IPS) facilities at the start of the war in October 2023 has been repeatedly extended. It is currently in effect until the end of July 2026. This order provides the legal framework for the major overcrowding in incarceration facilities, which includes packing thousands of prisoners and detainees on the floor, as well as the denial of family visits to all security inmates. In accordance with the policy steered by National Security Minister Itamar Ben Gvir, other aspects of incarceration conditions, including nutrition and medical care, are kept at a bare minimum or below, resulting in starvation and detrimental health impacts, some of which have been fatal, for many inmates. Israel’s High Court of Justice (HCJ) recently ruled unanimously that the IPS must comply fully with its decisions (Hebrew) and provide every inmate with the nutrition required for their sustenance and health.

The absence of a proper system for registering detentions, which continues in 2026, leaves many Palestinian families from the West Bank and the Gaza Strip without basic information regarding the whereabouts of their detained relatives, both adults and children.

As of May 2026, Israel has continued to deny the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) access to inmates, defying the provisions of humanitarian law. This means that lawyers representing inmates are the only people permitted to visit. However, even these visits are subject to various restrictions, including a sweeping ban on certain lawyers from entering IPS facilities, constituting an infringement on the rights of both counsel and the inmates they represent.

An overview of incarceration conditions today, more than six months after the Gaza ceasefire agreement entered into effect, reveals that change is slow and slight. The situation requires constant intervention by Israeli human rights organizations that document, report and take legal action to improve incarceration conditions, which the Public Defender’s Office has succinctly described as “inhumane.”