The Palestinian Prisoner's Society released a report documenting the detention of more than 2,000 Palestinian children by Israeli forces since October 2023. At least 350 children remain in Israeli prisons under what the group describes as harsh conditions, facing detention without charges or a release date. The report details a systematic pattern: intimidation and arrest, followed by torture, starvation, and denial of healthcare inside facilities long flagged by rights organizations. The scale of detention in Gaza remains unknown due to thousands of missing persons and what the group calls an ongoing policy of enforced disappearance. Two cases illustrate the human cost. Mohammed Hamid, 15, contracted scabies at Ofer Prison, developed severe infections, underwent heart surgery, was admitted to intensive care, and ultimately had a leg amputated. Walid Ahmed, 17, died in March 2025 after six months in Megiddo Prison. An Israeli judge halted the investigation into his death, acknowledging evidence of starvation but declining to establish a definitive cause of death. The detention apparatus extends to American citizens. Mohammed Ibrahim, a teenager from Florida imprisoned at Megiddo without charge, was released only after months of advocacy from US organizations and appeals from senior lawmakers. Abdalkareem Issa Ahmed Safi was taken from his West Bank home in a June night raid and turned 18 in detention, at which point authorities moved him from youth holding into adult facilities at Ofer. Adam Wajeh Abdelfattah Karakrah, 16 and also American, was arrested in July. His family secured bail for an August release, but Israeli authorities reversed the decision. The broader context is staggering in scale: more than 25,000 Palestinians have been detained in the West Bank, with thousands more in Gaza, since October 2023. On Tuesday alone, Israeli forces arrested at least six children from Hebron. The Palestinian Prisoner's Society called for international action to secure the release of arbitrarily detained children, enforce investigations, and end torture and starvation in Israeli prisons. The structural pattern is one of near-total impunity. When a 17-year-old dies in custody with evidence of starvation, and a judge halts the investigation rather than completing it, the system is not malfunctioning — it is functioning as designed. The detention of American minors without charge demonstrates that even US citizenship provides limited friction against the apparatus. The absence of reliable data from Gaza — the enforced disappearance policy, the thousands unaccounted for — means the documented figures almost certainly undercount the reality. The report is a snapshot of what can be verified, not a comprehensive accounting.
