2026-06-15
1,251 Gazans Held Under the “Unlawful Combatant” Law: The Actual Number of Gaza Detainees Remains Unknown
Ramallah – The latest data released by Palestinian prisoners' institutions indicate that at least 1,251 Palestinians from the Gaza Strip remain in Israeli custody under the classification of “Unlawful Combatants,” while human rights organizations maintain that the actual number of Gazan detainees could be significantly higher due to the absence of comprehensive official data on all individuals held in Israeli military detention facilities.
These figures come amid the ongoing war in the Gaza Strip and the large-scale arrest campaigns that have affected thousands of Palestinians since October 2023. The issue of detainees from Gaza has emerged as one of the most complex and least transparent files in the Palestinian context.
According to the available data, the figure of 1,251 represents only those detainees who are officially classified under the “Unlawful Combatant” category. This legal designation allows authorities to detain individuals for extended periods without filing conventional criminal charges or conducting ordinary judicial proceedings.
However, Palestinian prisoners' institutions emphasize that this figure does not represent the total number of Gazans currently in Israeli custody. The published statistics do not include all Palestinians held in military camps and detention facilities operated by the Israeli army, making it extremely difficult to determine a final and accurate figure at this stage.
Experts on prisoners' affairs note that confusion between the publicly announced figure and the total number of Gazan detainees is among the most common misconceptions in media coverage of the issue. While some assume that the total number of Gaza prisoners is limited to 1,251, the reality is that this figure reflects only a portion of the overall picture, while additional detainees remain outside publicly available statistics due to the nature of their detention locations and restrictions on access to information.
Human rights organizations warn that the continued lack of transparency regarding the number and conditions of Gazan detainees raises growing concerns about the fate of hundreds of Palestinians who were arrested during military operations in the Strip, particularly given the limited access to legal representation and independent monitoring during extended periods of the conflict.
Rights advocates and international organizations have called for the disclosure of the actual number of Gazan detainees, clarification of their places of detention, and the provision of legal safeguards consistent with international law and conventions governing the treatment of detainees during armed conflicts.
While the total number of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons exceeds 9,600, the file of Gaza detainees remains one of the most complicated from both statistical and human rights perspectives, with persistent questions surrounding the true number of detainees who have not been included in publicly available official figures.
Key Figures
1,251 Gazans are officially classified as “Unlawful Combatants.”
More than 9,600 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in Israeli prisons.
The published figure does not include all Gazans held in Israeli military detention facilities.
There is currently no verified final figure for the total number of Gazans in Israeli custody.
Human rights organizations continue to call for transparency regarding detainee numbers, detention locations, and legal protections..