The day marks the 1974 release of Mahmoud Bakr Hijazi, the first Palestinian freed in a prisoner swap with Israel. It was later designated to honour all Palestinian prisoners and highlight Israel’s ongoing detention of Palestinians and violation of their rights.
There are currently nearly 10,000 Palestinians held in Israeli jails in Israel and the occupied territory, according to prisoners’ rights group Addameer. To Palestinians, they are political prisoners who must be freed.
Of those in detention:
- 3,498 are held without charge or trial
- 400 are children
- 27 are women
- 299 are serving life sentences
Administrative detainees, including women and children, can be held by the military for renewable six-month periods based on “secret evidence” that neither the detainee nor their lawyer is allowed to see.
400 child prisoners – Ahmad Manasra’s case
Israel is the only country in the world that tries children in military courts, often denying them their basic rights.
According to Defense for Children Palestine, about 500 to 700 Palestinian children are detained and prosecuted in the Israeli military court system each year – some as young as 12.
The most common charge is throwing stones, a crime punishable under military law by up to 20 years in prison.
Currently, 400 Palestinian children remain in Israeli prisons, most are in pre-trial detention and have not been convicted of any offence.
One of the most harrowing child prisoner cases is that of Ahmad
Manasra, who was arrested at the age of 13, brutally interrogated and
then sentenced.... READ MORE https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/4/17/a-nation-behind-bars-why-has-israel-imprisoned-10000-palestinians
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