Israel confirms 2,790 Palestinian detainees from Gaza held in Israeli jails and detention facilities

Israel confirms that 2,790 Palestinian detainees from the Gaza Strip are currently held in Israeli jails and detention facilities.

The information is revealed in the state’s response to a petition by the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel and other organizations against the Law for Unlawful Combatants.

The law enables the holding of suspected terrorists and combatants from terror groups fighting Israel without providing them with a “prisoner of war” status under international humanitarian law, since they are not members of the legal armed forces of a sovereign state.

According to the state’s response to PCATI, 660 of the Gazan detainees are being held in military detention facilities.

The state’s response also confirms that a military detention facility at the Anatot base has been closed, following reports of harsh conditions there, and a facility at the Amiad base used to hold Hezbollah operatives captured in Lebanon was also shuttered.

Since December, Israel has freed 1,244 Gazan detainees — mostly in the hostage-ceasefire deal with Hamas — and has detained 455 more, according to the state response.

PCATI notes that there is a “discrepancy” of 144 detainees since the state’s last update. “The fate of these detainees is unknown, and has not been explained by the state authorities,” the organization says.