Eightfold rise in Palestinian minors held for over a year

Number of Palestinian minors in Israeli administrative detention rises sharply — data

While Israel stopped holding Jewish suspects without due process, it has intensified practice against against Arabs, expanding number of Palestinian minors held in past year from 103 to 191

The number of Palestinian minors held in administrative detention in Israel rose sharply within roughly a year, rising from 103 in January 2025 to 191 in March 2026, according to Israel Prison Service data obtained by the organization Parents Against Child Detention.

Those under administrative detention can be held indefinitely without charge or trial. Under the controversial practice — which Israel says is needed to address urgent security threats — the detainee is not informed of the allegations against them, and any evidence is presented in court in classified proceedings.

In addition, the number of minors held in administrative detention for more than a year rose more than eightfold, from six in March 2025 to 50 in March 2026.

The figures also show that administrative detention has become an increasingly frequent form of incarceration for Palestinian minors. At the beginning of 2025, about a third of Palestinian minors held by Israel were in administrative detention. By March 2026, the proportion had risen to nearly half.

Titi Carmel, executive director of Parents Against Child Detention, said in a statement that the figures are alarming.

“While children in Israel and around the world are enjoying their summer vacation, a growing number of Palestinian children are being held in harsh conditions identical to those of adults. Particularly troubling is the sharp rise in the number of children held in administrative detention — imprisonment without charge or trial, based on secret evidence,” she said.

According to the Israel Prison Service, a total of 3,198 Palestinians are currently being held in administrative detention, the vast majority from the West Bank. The figure does not include Palestinians detained during the war in Gaza who are classified as “unlawful combatants.”

Last week, Defense Minister Israel Katz boasted of having ceased approving administrative detention orders against Jewish suspects, while significantly increasing the use of the practice against Arab suspects.

Justifying his policy to differentiate between Jews and Arabs, he claimed that violence committed by settlers is not terrorism, while violence committed by Arabs is.

Given that administrative detention is no longer allowed against Jews, the Shin Bet has begun using a less severe order barring certain Jewish extremists from the West Bank.

It issued such an order earlier this year against Tal Yinon Dardik, a settler who allegedly stripped a Palestinian victim, zip-tied his genitals and paraded him around the village of Khirbet Humsa in March.

Katz refused to sign off on an extension of the order, allowing Dardik to roam freely in the West Bank.

While the head of the Shin Bet David Zini is opposed to administrative detention orders, others in the security establishment argue that Katz’s ban on their use has contributed to the massive uptick in settler violence over the past two years, as the government that appointed Zini is accused of tacitly backing the phenomenon.