Ramallah, November 7, 2025— Yet another record number of Palestinian children are held in administrative detention without charge or trial.
As of September 30, 2025, 350 Palestinian children are detained in Israeli prisons, according to the latest data available from the Israel Prison Service (IPS). 168 children, or 48 percent of the total, are held in administrative detention without charge or trial, which is both the highest number and the highest proportion on record since Defense for Children International - Palestine began monitoring these numbers in 2008. The IPS, which typically releases detainee data on a quarterly basis, was over a month late in releasing the data from the third quarter of 2025.
“Nearly half of all Palestinian children who are detained by Israel are held without charge or trial,” said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, accountability program director at DCIP. “It is clear that Israel’s practice of child detention has nothing to do with the rule of law, justice, or security. It is an arbitrary system designed to physically remove, suppress and stifle the development of Palestinian children, instilling a permanent sense of fear and insecurity.”
The data released by the IPS accounts for prisons under its administration, including Megiddo and Ofer, where children are detained and imprisoned. This data does not include children who are detained at Israeli military detention and interrogation centers. There is no available data for the number of children or adults detained at these sites, though DCIP has gathered firsthand testimonies from previously detained children describing systematic torture and dehumanizing conditions.
These numbers come at a time when Palestinian children consistently report appalling and debilitating conditions within Israeli detention facilities, including being withheld from adequate food and water, being subjected to beatings and verbal harassment, lacking access to medical care, and being subjected to torture, including the use of solitary confinement. Israel continues to disallow the International Committee of the Red Cross from visiting any Palestinian detainees held in Israeli places of detention, as it has done so since October 7, 2023.The use of torture and arbitrary detention against children is in direct contradiction to Article 37 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which Israel has ratified.
Lawyers representing Palestinian detainees continue to face increasing barriers to legal representation, including the cancellation of scheduled visits, severe limitations on visiting hours, prolonged delays extending for months, and bans on bringing in even basic case materials. Lawyers are also forbidden from passing on simple messages from families, and children who wish to pass along messages to their families through a lawyer have been beaten.
Every day a child spends in an Israeli prison without charge is a day stolen from their safety, education, and childhood. Israel’s escalating use of administrative detention against children reflects a deliberate policy of repression and the complete breakdown of the rule of law. The systematic denial of due process, family contact, and independent oversight underscores a pattern of state-sanctioned impunity. DCIP calls on the international community to act decisively to end Israel’s unlawful detention of Palestinian children and uphold their rights to liberty and dignity.
