Almost 1,300 Palestinians from Gaza remain in Israeli detention under emergency powers, while Israeli forces are continuing to make new arrests despite the ceasefire that came into force almost three months ago.
In a recent filing at the Israeli Supreme Court, the government revealed that it continues to hold 1,287 Gazan detainees in prisons and military-run facilities.
It also said it was holding 41 Palestinians from Gaza under temporary detention orders as of the end of December, meaning they had been arrested during the ceasefire.
Since 7 October 2023, thousands of Palestinians from Gaza and the occupied West Bank have been detained in Israeli facilities, where many have been held in extreme conditions and faced torture and abuse.
Israel released almost 2,000 prisoners and detainees in October under the ceasefire deal with Hamas, though thousands remain behind bars.
The Supreme Court filing was made following a petition submitted by Israeli human rights organisations demanding that the government end emergency provisions that strip detainees of their rights.
In its response, the government said it would instead extend the emergency powers for another three months.
The law allows Israeli authorities to hold detainees without charge indefinitely and without providing justification for their detention. It has also blocked detainees from accessing legal representation for 45 days, though this was shortened to 25 days in a recent amendment.
Five Israeli rights monitors - Adalah, the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, Physicians for Human Rights-Israel, HaMoked, and Gisha – signed the petition in February 2024 demanding the government rescind the emergency law.
Sari Bashi, executive director of the Public Committee Against Torture in Israel, said Israel should have cancelled the law with the signing of the ceasefire but is instead "making up rules as it goes along" and continues to hold and detain Palestinians.
"Israel should repeal the emergency provision, cease its targeted and cruel incarceration policy against Palestinians, and act in accordance with international law," he said.
The number of Palestinians in Israeli prisons has more than doubled since Israel launched its brutal war on Gaza in October 2023, which has since killed over 71,000 Palestinians.
As of September, almost 11,000 Palestinians were being held in detention or in prison, up from less than 5,000 before the war, according to Israeli rights monitor B'Tselem.
Conditions for Palestinians in Israeli prisons have become more extreme under the far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir, who has overseen a rise in torture and abuse since taking control of the prison system in 2023.
A UN committee in November described Israel as operating a "de facto state policy of organised and widespread torture and ill-treatment" after investigating conditions in Israeli detention sites.
The committee expressed "deep concern over allegations of repeated severe beatings, dog attacks, electrocution, waterboarding, use of prolonged stress positions, sexual violence [and] systematic denial of medical care".
It said prisoners have been deprived of food, water and clothing, operated on without anaesthetic, and subjected to humiliation by "being made to act like animals or being urinated on".
At least 110 Palestinians have died in Israeli custody since the war began on 7 October 2023.
Ben-Gvir and his supremacist Jewish Power party are spearheading legislation that would legalise the execution of Palestinian prisoners.
"We are deeply concerned about the high number of detainees dying in detention facilities, a number that, according to estimates by the human rights community, has exceeded 100 since the beginning of the war, amid concerns of denial of medical treatment, starvation, and death by torture," said Bashi.