Palestinian Prisoners Day 2025: A nation behind bars

17 April 2025 marked Palestinian Prisoners Day – a solemn reminder of the thousands of Palestinians languishing in Israeli prisons, many without charge or trial. As the occupation deepens its grip and repression escalates, this day takes on renewed urgency. It is not just a commemoration – it is a call to action.

As of this month, at least 9,900 Palestinians are being held in Israeli prisons. Among them are over 3,498 administrative detainees – Palestinians imprisoned indefinitely without charge, without trial, and without the ability to defend themselves. This system of administrative detention is a gross violation of international law, and yet it continues unabated.

The toll on children is devastating. More than 400 Palestinian children are currently imprisoned, with at least 112 held without trial (as of January 2025). This is the highest number of Palestinian child detainees ever recorded under administrative detention, according to Defence for Children International – Palestine. These children are often subjected to harsh interrogations, denied access to legal counsel, and held in conditions that violate their basic human rights.

Tragically, the brutality does not end with imprisonment. Since October 2023, at least 64 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody, including 40 detainees from Gaza. Among them was 17-year-old Walid Ahmad, who died in March 2025 at Megiddo Prison after six months of detention without trial. Walid’s family reported signs of extreme medical neglect and deterioration in his physical and mental health – a chilling testament to the cruelty embedded in the prison system.

Israel’s mass incarceration of Palestinians is not an isolated practice. It is part of a larger policy of control, intimidation, and demographic engineering. Arrests often occur during night raids, without warrants. Detainees are frequently subjected to beatings, solitary confinement, and denial of medical care. In the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, no Palestinian is truly safe from arbitrary arrest — activists, students, lawmakers, and even children are all targeted.

This system is enabled by silence. Western governments, including the UK, have largely failed to hold Israel accountable. Despite mounting evidence of torture, administrative detention, and the violation of children’s rights, the British government continues to deepen military and intelligence ties with Israel.

As a signatory to the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Geneva Conventions, the UK has a legal and moral obligation to act. But action must begin with pressure from the public.

What you can do today:

• Email your MP: Demand that the UK government call for the immediate release of all children held in Israeli prisons and an end to administrative detention. Ask them to raise these issues in Parliament and call for sanctions against Israeli officials involved in systematic abuse.
• Join the campaign for boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS): Many international companies profit from Israel’s prison system. Cutting financial ties is one way to resist complicity. Learn more here.
• Raise awareness: Share the stories of Palestinian prisoners – especially children – in your local mosque, community groups, and social media. Break the silence that allows this system to continue. DCI-Palestine has numerous resources available for this.
• Educate yourself and others: Organisations such as Addameer, Defence for Children International – Palestine, and Al-Haq provide regular updates, legal analysis, and powerful documentation of the abuses within Israeli prisons.

Palestinian Prisoners Day is not only about numbers – it is about names, faces, and families torn apart. It is about mothers waiting for news, children robbed of their innocence, and a people fighting for freedom under siege. The UK public cannot afford to remain passive.

Imprisonment without justice is violence. Silence is complicity.

Never stop demanding freedom.