Palestinian prisoners’ institutions: 580 cases of arrests in the occupied West Bank during January 2025 alone
Briefing by the Commission of Detainees’ Affairs, Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) and Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association.
February 10, 2025
*Figures include those who remain in the occupation’s custody and those who were later released.
In January, Israeli occupation forces carried out approximately 580 arrests in the West Bank, with the highest number of arrests recorded in Jenin and its refugee camp, which have been under an unprecedented aggression for the past 21 days.
There were 17 cases of arrest among women overall in January, and 60 cases of arrest of children below 18 years of age. Meanwhile, hundreds of Palestinians have been detained during field interrogations.
It was announced (by occupation authorities) in January 2025 that four identified Palestinian political prisoners had been killed in the Israeli occupation’s custody. Two of them were from Gaza and had been martyred months prior to the occupation’s admittance. Authorities responded to legal requests for information about their fate in January 2025.
The martyrs are:
By the start of the ceasefire on January 19, 2025, the number of cases of arrests in the West Bank since the start of the genocide, reached 14,500. This figure does not include the number of arrests from Gaza, which are estimated to be in the thousands.
There were at least 455 cases of arrests of Palestinian women from the start of the genocide until the date of the ceasefire. This statistic includes women arrested from the 1948-occupied territories, as well as women from Gaza arrested in the West Bank. This figure does not include the number of women arrested in Gaza, which is estimated to be in the dozens.
In the same time frame, there were at least 1,115 cases of arrests of children in the occupied West Bank.
Number of Palestinian political prisoners in the occupation’s custody as of February 2025:
Note: The data related to arrests is subject to daily change due to the continuous arrest campaigns. It includes both those who have been arrested and remain in detention, as well as those who were later released.
Systematic abuses and crimes committed against Palestinian political prisoners
Alongside the never-ending mass arrest campaigns, severe crimes and violations are being committed against Palestinian detainees in an unprecedented manner in terms of frequency and intensity, including during their arrest which often involves a military raid on homes. These abuses include: severe beating and assault, terrorizing detainees and their families, intentional widespread destruction of homes and all belongings, theft of vehicles, money, and gold jewelry. This also includes widespread destruction to infrastructure, specifically in the refugee camps of Tulkarem, Jenin and Tubas, as well as the town of Tammoun. Homes of political prisoners and martyrs are also demolished, their family members are used as human shields and as hostages to pressure relatives to surrender.
Arrest cases include all individuals who were arrested from their homes, at military checkpoints, those who were forced to surrender under pressure, and those who were detained as hostages. In addition to the mass arrest campaigns, occupation forces also carried out field executions of those they were arresting, as well as their family members.
At least 58 identified Palestinian political prisoners were killed and martyred in Israeli custody since October 7, 2023. This figure includes 37 martyrs who were arrested from Gaza. It does not include the dozens of unidentified detainees who were arrested from Gaza and were killed in circumstances unknown to lawyers and Palestinian prisoners’ institutions. The Israeli occupation continues to withhold information about their fates, identities and where they are being held, leaving their loved ones in the dark. Among the 58, the bodies of only two detainees were returned to their families for burial. The remaining bodies of at least 56 martyred detainees continued to be withheld by occupation authorities in violation of international law.
***These figures do not include the number of arrests from Gaza due to the widely-practiced crime of enforced disappearance against them by occupation soldiers. The occupation has acknowledged arresting thousands of residents from Gaza, hundreds of whom were later released.
Political prisoner releases during January 2025:
During the first phase of the ceasefire and prisoner-exchange deal between January 19 and February 8, a total of 544 prisoners were released in five batches until now, in addition to 222 detainees from Gaza who were arrested after October 7, 2023.
The majority of Palestinian prisoners who were released after the genocide suffer from health problems, requiring many of them to be transferred to hospitals. This is due to the severe crimes and abuses being practiced against them which prisoners’ institutions have been documenting for over a year and a half. The most practiced crimes include torture, severe beatings, deprivation of medical care, enforced starvation, sexual assault, and systematic abuse, humiliation among many other things. The severe beatings carried out by prison suppression units aim to either kill the prisoners or cause them life-long injuries and health problems that are difficult to treat later. As part of its policy to terrorize released prisoners, the Israeli prison administration placed wristbands on them bearing threatening words of vengeance.
Prisoner groups emphasize that there are still over 10,000 Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli custody, not including all of those taken from Gaza. Hundreds of them are facing the crime of enforced disappearance. It is crucial to highlight that time is the key factor affecting the fate and lives of the prisoners. The longer they are detained, the greater the risk is to their fate and lives, given the scale of the crimes they are subjected to.
Attached below are the key reports, statements, and documents issued by our organizations during January 2025 (all in Arabic with some versions available in English).