On Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, Inaam al-Dahdouh stands among countless mothers waiting for news of children held in Israeli detention facilities. Her three sons were taken by Israeli forces two years ago, and since then, she has received little to no information about their well-being or legal status. The ongoing uncertainty reflects a broader pattern faced by Palestinian families navigating Israel’s military detention system, particularly in the Gaza Strip, where access to detainees remains severely restricted.
The term “administrative detention” refers to imprisonment without charge or trial, a practice Israel has used extensively against Palestinians, including minors, under military orders dating back to the 1967 occupation of the West Bank and Gaza. Even as Israel states that such detentions are based on secret intelligence evidence necessary for security, human rights organizations have repeatedly criticized the lack of transparency and due process. According to B’Tselem, an Israeli human rights group, as of early 2024, over 1,000 Palestinians from Gaza were held in administrative detention, many without formal charges.
Al-Dahdouh’s sons were among those swept up during intensified Israeli military operations in Gaza following escalations in 2022. Though specific details about their arrest dates or alleged involvement have not been publicly disclosed by Israeli authorities, their case aligns with reports from the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), which documented widespread arrest campaigns during that period, often targeting young men perceived as potential security threats.
Palestinian Prisoners’ Day, observed annually on April 17, commemorates the Palestinian nationalist movement’s long-standing struggle against mass incarceration. The date marks the 1974 release of Mahmoud Bakr Hijazi, the first Palestinian prisoner exchanged in a prisoner swap deal. Today, the day serves as both a remembrance and a call for international attention to the estimated 4,700 Palestinians currently held in Israeli prisons, according to figures from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (PPS) as of March 2024.
For families like al-Dahdouh’s, communication with detained relatives is exceptionally difficult. Israel’s prison authority permits limited visits for West Bank detainees, but Gaza residents face near-total restrictions due to the ongoing blockade and infrequent permit approvals. The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which facilitates family visits when possible, reported in 2023 that fewer than 5% of Gaza detainees received regular family visits, leaving most families reliant on infrequent and often delayed updates through legal representatives or prison authorities.
Legal advocates from organizations such as Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association note that Palestinian detainees from Gaza are frequently transferred to facilities inside Israel, contravening Article 76 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which prohibits the transfer of protected persons from occupied territory. Israel disputes the applicability of certain Geneva Convention provisions to its actions in Gaza, a position rejected by the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in its 2024 advisory opinion, which found that Israel’s occupation of Palestinian territories remains unlawful and that its policies amount to apartheid.
The psychological toll on waiting families is profound. Al-Dahdouh described living in a state of suspended anxiety, oscillating between hope and despair with each unverified rumor or delayed message. Mental health professionals working with Palestinian communities, including those from the Gaza Community Mental Health Programme (GCMHP), have documented elevated rates of depression, insomnia, and post-traumatic stress among relatives of detainees, citing chronic uncertainty as a core stressor.
Diplomatic efforts to address detention practices have yielded limited results. While the European Union and United Nations regularly call for Israel to complete administrative detention and respect international humanitarian law, concrete policy shifts have not followed. The United States, Israel’s primary military ally, has occasionally expressed concern over specific cases but generally defers to Israel’s security assessments.
As of April 2024, there is no publicly confirmed date for when al-Dahdouh might receive direct word about her sons’ condition or legal proceedings. Prisoners’ Day observances across Gaza and the West Bank included rallies, symbolic empty chairs representing the detained, and appeals for global solidarity—but for mothers like her, the wait continues without answers.
Readers seeking verified updates on Palestinian detainees can consult monthly reports from the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society (Palestinian Prisoners’ Society) or the United Nations OCHA oPt (UN OCHA occupied Palestinian territory), which provide aggregated data on arrest trends and detention conditions, though individual case details are often withheld for privacy and security reasons.
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