Over 2,000 Palestinian Children Detained by Israel Since Late 2023, Rights Group Reports

Palestinian children navigate the debris of war-torn buildings in Gaza City, an image captured on October 7, 2026, by Mahmoud Issa/Reuters. According to a report released on Wednesday by the Palestinian Prisoner’s Society, Israeli forces have detained more than 2,000 Palestinian children since October 2023. The Palestinian rights group stated that Israeli authorities are continuing to escalate their targeting of Palestinian children. The report indicates that at least 350 Palestinian children are currently enduring "harsh conditions" in Israeli prisons. On Tuesday, Israeli forces apprehended at least six children from Hebron in the occupied West Bank, the report detailed. The organization noted that information regarding the number of children arrested in Gaza remains unclear due to the thousands of missing persons, including children, in the besieged Gaza Strip, and the ongoing policy of enforced disappearance. The group further stated that Israel’s practice of detention without charges or a release date constitutes "an additional violation and crime that leaves children facing the unknown and deprives them of family and educational stability." The report outlined Israeli practices that commence with "intimidation and arrest" and progress to "torture, starvation and denial of healthcare." The organization highlighted the severe case of 15-year-old Mohammed Hamid, who contracted scabies while detained in Ofer Prison, a facility where rights groups have long documented abuses. Hamid suffered severe infections, required heart surgery, and was admitted to intensive care in critical condition, ultimately leading to the amputation of one of his legs. Additionally, the organization drew attention to the case of 17-year-old Walid Ahmed, who passed away in March 2025 after six months of detention in Megiddo Prison. In December, an Israeli judge halted the investigation into his death, acknowledging evidence of starvation but concluding that no definitive cause of death had been established. Ahmed was imprisoned in Megiddo alongside his friend Mohammed Ibrahim, a teenager from Florida. Ibrahim was eventually released following months of advocacy by US-based organizations and appeals from prominent lawmakers. Mohammed Ibrahim was not the sole young American held in Israeli prison without charge; Israeli forces reportedly apprehended Abdalkareem Issa Ahmed Safi from his West Bank residence during a late-night raid in June. He reached the age of 18 while in detention, after which authorities transferred him from a youth holding area to an adult section at Ofer Prison. Similarly, Israeli forces arrested 16-year-old Adam Wajeh Abdelfattah Karakrah, also an American citizen, in July. Although his release was scheduled for August after his family secured bail, Israeli authorities abruptly rescinded the decision to free him. The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society issued a call for "real international action" to secure the release of arbitrarily detained children, enforce investigations, and put an end to torture, starvation, and the denial of medical treatment in Israeli prisons. The report also noted that Israeli forces have detained over 25,000 Palestinians in the West Bank, and thousands more in Gaza, since the commencement of Israel's war in October 2023.