Statistics on Administrative Detention

At the end of May 2020, at least 352 Palestinians - including at least one woman and two minors - were held in administrative detention in Israel Prison Service (IPS) facilities.

Due to IPS policy as of May 2020 not to provide B'Tselem with figures under 5, the overall number of detainees and prisoners, as provided B'Tselem, may not match the sum total of detainees and prisoners in the various categories. 

B'Tselem petitioned the Central District Court to revoke this policy.

According to the IDF Spokesperson, on occasion, the military also holds in custody a handful of administrative detainees for several days, until room becomes available in IPS facilities. 

The following tables show the number of Palestinians held by Israel in administrative detention on specific dates from 2001 to 2020, one date given per month. The data were provided by the military and the IPS. We do not have figures on the overall number of Palestinians held in Israel in administrative detention during this period.

For more information click here

For further information please contact Eyal Sagiv by e-mail at: saeyal@btselem.org.

Administrative detainees by duration in custody

* The diagrams above show the number of administrative detainees on a given day in December of each year, according to figures we received for that day, as detailed in the tables below. We do not have figures available for the overall number of administrative detainees in a given month.

Administrative detainees by month, 2020

Month	IDF	IPS			Date of Statistics
		Total	Minors aged 14 to 16	Minors aged 16 to 18
May	*	352	0	2	31 May
April	*	372	0	1	30 April
March	2	424	0	2	31 March
Feb.	0	429	0	3	29 Feb.
Jan.	0	431	0	3	31 Jan.

 

Administrative detainees by month, 2019

Month	IDF	IPS			Date of Statistics
		Total	Minors aged 14 to 16	Minors aged 16 to 18
Dec.	0	464	0	4	31 Dec.
Nov.	0	458	0	1	30 Nov.
Oct.	*	460	0	3	31 Oct.
Sept.	0	437	0	3	30 Sept.
August	0	413	0	1	31 Aug.
July	0	454	0	0	31 July
June	0	433	0	0	30 June
May	0	486	0	0	31 May
April	0	479	0	2	30 April
March	0	486	0	2	31 March
Feb.	0	495	0	2	28 Feb.
Jan.	0	491	0	2	31 Jan.

 

Administrative detainees by month, 2018

* One Palestinian resident of the Gaza Strip was held by the IPS under the Illegal Combatants Law from Aug. 2014 to April 2018, although he did not always appear in the IPS data.

Administrative detainees by month, 2017

* One Palestinian resident of the Gaza Strip was held by the IPS under the Illegal Combatants Law from Aug. 2014 to April 2018, although he did not always appear in the IPS data.

Administrative detainees by month, 2016

* One Palestinian resident of the Gaza Strip was held by the IPS under the Illegal Combatants Law from Aug. 2014 to April 2018, although he did not always appear in the IPS data.

Administrative detainees by month, 2015

* One Palestinian resident of the Gaza Strip was held by the IPS under the Illegal Combatants Law from Aug. 2014 to April 2018, although he did not always appear in the IPS data.

Administrative detainees by month, 2014

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
Dec.	9	463	IDF & IPS: Dec. 31
Nov.	7	461	IDF & IPS: Nov. 30
Oct.	5	457	IDF & IPS: Oct. 31
Sept.	9	468	IDF & IPS: Sept 30
August	*	473	IPS: August 30
July	*	446	IPS: July 31
June	*	363	IPS: June 30
May	*	196	IPS: May 31
April	*	191	IPS: April 30
March	*	186	IPS: March 31
Feb.	*	181	IPS: Feb. 28
Jan.	*	175	IPS: January 31

* One Palestinian resident of the Gaza Strip was held by the IPS under the Illegal Combatants Law from Aug. 2014 to April 2018, although he did not always appear in the IPS data.

Administrative detainees by month, 2013

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
Dec.	*	150	IPS: Dec. 31
Nov.	*	143	IPS: Nov. 30
Oct.	*	140	IPS: Oct. 31
Sept.	*	135	IPS: Sept. 30
August	*	134	IPS: August 31
July	*	134	IPS: July 31
June	*	137	IPS: June 30
May	*	147	IPS: May 31
April	*	155	IPS: April 30
March	*	164	IPS: March 31
Feb.	*	169	IPS: February 28
Jan.	*	159	IPS: January 31

 

Administrative detainees by month, 2012

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
Dec.	*	178	IPS: Dec. 31
Nov.	*	178	IPS: Nov. 30
Oct.	*	156	IPS: Oct. 31
Sept.	*	184	IPS: Sept. 30
Aug.	*	212	IPS: Aug. 31
July	*	250	IPS: July 31
June	*	285	IPS: June 30
May	*	302	IPS: May 31
April	*	308	IPS: April 30
March	*	320	IPS: March 31
Feb.	*	320	IPS: Feb. 29
Jan.	*	309	IPS: January 31

 

Administrative detainees by month, 2011

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
Dec.	*	307	IPS: Dec. 31
Nov.	*	283	IPS: Nov. 30
Oct.	*	278	IPS: Oct. 31
Sept.	*	286	IPS: Sept. 30
Aug.	*	272	IPS: Aug. 31
July	*	243	IPS: July 31
June	*	242	IPS: June 30
May	*	228	IPS: May 31
April	*	219	IPS: April 30
March	*	217	IPS: March 27
Feb.	*	214	IPS: February 28
Jan.	*	219	IPS: January 31

 

Administrative detainees by month, 2010

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
Dec.	*	204	IPS: Dec. 31
Nov.	*	205	IPS: Nov. 30
Oct.	*	213	IPS: Oct. 31
Sept.	*	212	IPS: Sept. 30
August	*	189	IPS: August 31
July	*	199	IPS: July 31
June	*	203	IPS: June 30
May	*	213	IPS: May 31
April	*	222	IPS: April 30
March	*	237	IPS: March 31
Feb.	*	259	IPS: February 28
Jan.	*	264	IPS: January 31

 

Administrative detainees by month, 2009

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
Dec.	*	278	IPS: Dec. 31
Nov.	*	291	IPS: Nov. 30
Oct.	*	322	IPS: Oct. 31
Sept.	*	335	IPS: Sept. 30
August	*	363	IPS: August 31
July	*	387	IPS: July 31
June		428	IDF: June 28, IPS: June 30
May	*	449	IPS: May 31
April	*	487	IPS: April 30
March	*	506	IPS: March 31
Feb.		542	IDF: February 26
Jan.		564	IDF: Janaury 28, IPS: February 28
			IPS: February 3

 

Administrative detainees by duration of detention, 2009

Duration	No. of detainees
	As of 21	As of 31 Oct.'09	As of 30 Nov. '09
	Jan. '09
Under six months	176	73	69
Six months to one year	154	117	103
One year to 1 ½ years	120	59	52
1 ½ years to two years	56	42	41
Two years to 2 ½ years	19	20	18
2 ½ years to three years	18	8	6
Three years to 3 ½ years	2
3 ½ years to four years		2	1
Four years to 4 ½ years	1
Over 4 ½ years	2	1	1
Total	548	322	291

 

Administrative detainees by month ,2001-2008

2008

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
Dec.	0	546	IDF: Dec. 28 IPS: Dec. 31
Nov.	0	569	IDF: Nov. 30 IPS: Nov. 30
Oct.	0	578	IDF: Oct. 29 IPS: Oct. 31
Sept.	1	598	IDF: Sept. 29 IPS: Sept. 30
August	2	649	IDF: August. 29 IPS: August 31
July	*	691	IPS: July 31
June	0	730	IDF: June 30 IPS: June 30
May	0	761	IPS: May 29 IPS: May 31
April	*	790	IPS: April 30
March	0	776	IDF:March 30 IPS:March 31
Feb.	0	788	IDF:February 29 IPS: February 28
Jan.	1	813	IDF: January 31 IPS: January 31

 

2007

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
Dec.	*	842	IPS: Dec. 31
Nov.	9	858	IDF: Nov. 26 IPS: Nov. 30
Oct.	14	842	IDF: Oct. 28 IPS: Oct. 30
Sept.	1	836	IDF: Sept. 24 IPS: Sept. 29
Aug.	0	818	IDF: Aug. 12 IPS: Aug. 28
July	3	*	IDF: July 18
June	*	831	IPS: June 6
May	0	*	IDF: May 13
April	0	809	IDF: April 10 IPS: April 1
March	3	780	IDF: March 4 IPS: March 5
Jan.	6	801	IDF: January 3 IPS: January 25

 

2006

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
Dec.	1	782	IDF: Dec. 3 IPS: 23 Dec.
Nov.	2	736	IDF: 1 Nov. IPS: 23 Nov.
Oct.	9	694	IDF: 5 Oct. IPS: 22 Oct.
Sept.	116	592	IDF: 3 Sept. IPS: 11 Sept.
July	105	645	IDF: 18 July IPS: 25 July
Jan.	741	53	IDF: January 3 IPS: January 1

 

2005

 

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
Dec..	*	47	IPS: Dec. 1
Nov.	*	42	IPS: Nov. 1
Oct.	*	36	IPS: Oct. 1
Sept.	*	24	IPS: Sept. 1
Aug.	596	*	IDF: August 1
July	604	*	IDF: July 1
May	647	*	IDF: May 1
April	704	*	IDF: April 6
Jan.	848	22	IDF: January 6 IPS: January 3

Note: Since February 2005, the Prisons Service has refused to provide B'Tselem with figures on detainees and prisoners on a regular, free of charge basis, as it did previously. Since then B'Tselem had to request the information monthly, under the Law on Freedom of information.

2004

 

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
Dec.	836	27	IDF: December 5 IPS: December 6
Nov.	831	27	IDF: November 1 IPS: November 2
Oct.	*	23	IPS: October 13
Sept.	760	21	IDF: September 2 IPS: September 2
Aug.	731	20	IDF: August 1 IPS: August 8
July	737	23	IDF: July 7 IPS: July 7
June	723	24	IDF: June 24 IPS: June 13
May	670	33	IDF: May 5 IPS: May 4
April	618	26	IDF: April 4 IPS: April 4
March	605	25	IDF: March 9 IPS: March 2
Feb.	606	22	IDF: February 1 IPS: February 3
Jan.	638	19	IDF: January 4 IPS: January 6

 

2003

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
Dec.	631	18	IDF: December 1 IPS: December 3
Nov.	659	20	IDF: November 6 IPS: November 4
Oct.	539	14	IDF: October 1 IPS: October 1
Sept.	515	13	IDF: September 4 IPS: September 4
Aug.	687	13	IDF: August 3 IPS: August 6
July	763	22	IDF: July 3 IPS: July 1
June	932	20	IDF: June 2 IPS: June 4
May	1,088	19	IDF: May 1 IPS: May 15
April	1,119	21	IDF: April 3 IPS: April 4
March	1,108	19	IDF: March 2 IPS: March 4
Feb.	1,088	19	IDF: February 5 IPS: February 2
Jan.	1,007	*	IDF: January 1 IPS: *

 

2002

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
Dec.	949	11	IDF: December 3 IPS: December 11
Nov.	927	9	IDF: November 4 IPS: November 3
Oct.	871	7	IDF: October 1 IPS: October 3
Sept.	857	10	IDF: September 2 IPS: September 3
Aug.	808	5	IDF: August 8 IPS: August 5
July	938	5	IDF: July 15 IPS: July 7
June	929	*	IDF: June 3 IPS: *
May	681	*	IDF: May 12 IPS: *
April	111	*	IDF: April 15 IPS: *
March	40	4	IDF: March 11 IPS: March 7
Feb.	*	*	IDF: * IPS: *
Jan.	36	*	IDF: January 24 IPS: *

 

2001

Month	IDF	IPS	Date of Statistics
December	34	-	IDF: December 5 IPS: December 4
November	31	*	IDF: November 5 IPS: *
October	26	1	IDF: October 24 IPS: October 5
September	*	*	IDF: * IPS: *
August	16	1	IDF: August 16 IPS: August 5
July	9	1	IDF: July 9 IPS: July 11
June	12	1	IDF: June 14 IPS: June 10
May	11	1	IDF: May 8 IPS: May 8
April	11	1	IDF: April 11 IPS: April 4
March	14	1	IDF: March 15 IPS: March 5
February	16	-	IDF: February 15 IPS: February 8
January	16	-	IDF: January 4 IPS: January 3

From the beginning of the intifada (December 9, 1987) until today, thousands of Palestinians have been held in administrative detention for periods ranging from six months to several years.

The following table details the number of Palestinian residents of the Occupied Territories who were held by Israel in administrative detention on particular dates since November 1989. B'Tselem does not have summary statistics on the total number of Palestinians held in administrative detention during each year .

Administrative detainees by year, 1989-2004

1. Beginning in August 2008, the figures include Palestinian prisoners who are residents of East Jerusalem. In  its figures for previous months and years, the IPS did not include these prisoners in their figures on Palestinian prisoners.
2. Almost all Palestinian prisoners are now held in installations run by the Israel Prisons Service. On 3 October 2006, responsibility for Ofer Prison was transferred from the IDF to the IPS. Responsibility for Megiddo Prison was transferred to the IPS on 15 February 2005, and for Ketziot Prison on 1 March 2006.
3. * = No statistics provided.
4. Over the years, nine Israeli citizens residing in settlements in the West Bank have been administratively detained for periods up to six months.
5. Between December 1999 and January 2004, Israel held Lebanese prisoners in administrative detention as hostages for potential exchanges for Israelis taken prisoner or missing from the Lebanon War. Over the years Israel released these hostages, and the last of them were released in a prisoner exchange in January 2004.