2,000 Palestinians detained by Israel since start of 2018: report

Around 700 prisoners suffer from chronic diseases and require constant medical attention

RAMALLAH: The Palestinian Prisoners Club (PPC) said Tuesday that Israel has arrested around 2,000 Palestinians since the beginning of 2018.

The PPC, a quasi-governmental association dealing with Palestinian detainees in Israeli jails, issued a report on the occasion of Palestinian Prisoners Day, which was marked Tuesday.

It declared that 1,928 Palestinian have been arrested since the beginning of this year, including 369 children and 36 women.



According to the report, around 1 million Palestinians have been arrested by Israel since May 14, 1948, the day Israel was founded. Palestinians have designated May 15, the day after Israeli independence, as the Nakba Day, or Day of Catastrophe, as tens of thousands of Palestinians have been displaced since 1948.

About 6,500 Palestinian prisoners are now in Israeli jails, including 350 children, 65 women, and six Palestinian lawmakers.



Among the prisoners, 48 have been incarcerated for over 20 years continuously, 25 have spent more than 25 years in jail, and 12 have been detained for over 30 years, according to the report.

In addition, the report underlined that around 700 prisoners are suffering from chronic diseases and require consistent medical attention, including 26 suffering from cancer.

Palestinians have been marking the Prisoners Day on April 17 each year since it was declared by Palestinian National Council in 1974, calling for freeing all Palestinian prisoners from Israeli jails.