Israel has detained more than 2,000 Palestinian children since 2023: report

What the report says

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society said Israeli forces have detained more than 2,000 Palestinian children since October 2023, according to an Al Jazeera report published on 15 October 2026. The rights group said at least 350 Palestinian children are currently being held in what it described as harsh prison conditions. It also said Israeli arrests of children continued this week, including the reported detention of at least six minors in Hebron in the occupied West Bank.

The report said the group could not give a full count of children detained in Gaza because of the large number of missing people there and what it described as enforced disappearances. It added that detention without charges or a release date leaves children in prolonged uncertainty and disrupts family and schooling.

Al Jazeera reported that the group described a pattern of abuse ranging from intimidation and arrest to torture, starvation and denial of healthcare. It cited cases including 15-year-old Mohammed Hamid, who suffered serious medical complications while detained, and 17-year-old Walid Ahmed, who died in Megiddo Prison in March 2025. The report also mentioned detained American teenagers and said one was later moved from a youth area into an adult section after turning 18.

The Palestinian Prisoner’s Society called for stronger international action, including the release of children held without due process and investigations into alleged mistreatment. More broadly, the report places these detentions within Israel’s wider post-October 2023 campaign of arrests in the West Bank and Gaza, a topic that has drawn sustained scrutiny from rights groups.