Global campaign for 'Palestinian hostages' held by Israel launches in London

A global online campaign demanding the release of Palestinian detainees is set to launch from London on Thursday, amid growing political and legal shifts affecting hundreds held in Israeli prisons.

The initiative expands a campaign that began in the British capital around two months ago, during which activists displayed red ribbons and photographs of detainees in public spaces to create a visible reminder of their plight.

Organisers say the campaign is now moving into an international phase, seeking to mobilise global public opinion.

The online campaign will rely on coordinated posting using the Arabic hashtag #FreedomForTheDetainees and the English hashtag #FreePalHostages, with calls for participation from multiple cities worldwide.

Organisers say digital mobilisation allows the issue to break through geographic boundaries and apply pressure on media outlets, rights groups, and international institutions.

The launch comes as rights organisations warn of new Israeli legislation approved by the Knesset, which expands punitive measures against Palestinian detainees.

The laws allow for the issuance of death sentences against certain categories of prisoners, tightens penalties inside prisons, and grants authorities broader powers to extend detention and prevent the release of detainees who have completed their sentences.

Human rights groups have also reported a rise in serious abuses inside Israeli prisons. Organisations including Amnesty International have documented allegations of systematic torture, sexual assault, and the use of police dogs against detainees, particularly those from Gaza, following the 2024 war.

Campaign organisers frame the issue primarily as a humanitarian one, describing detainees as the "real hostages", including children, women, doctors, and healthcare workers.

They estimate that Israeli prisons currently hold more than 400 Palestinian children, around 50 women, over 3,500 people in administrative detention, and roughly 150 healthcare workers from Gaza and the West Bank, including Kamal Adwan Hospital Director Dr Hussam Abu Safiya.

Speaking to The New Arab, Adnan Hamidan, the campaign's founder and one of its coordinators, said the initiative was aimed first and foremost at the public conscience rather than official institutions.

"I am betting first on people’s conscience before I bet on institutions’ positions," Hamidan said. "Western streets have changed a great deal in the past two years, not because they suddenly became more just, but because they began to see what had long been hidden from them."

He added that the campaign seeks to move beyond appeals for sympathy.

"We are not presenting a discourse of pity, but one of dignity. We are not saying come and sympathise with us, but rather saying look at what is being done to human beings in the name of law," he added.

Hamidan said the goal was to create a "moment of moral embarrassment" in which silence becomes untenable.

"International institutions do not move unless they feel public opinion has overtaken them and that silence has become costly," he said, describing the campaign as a process of "slow accumulation".

Hamidan said the campaign works with lawyers, detainees' families, and rights organisations to turn statistics into individual stories.

He described the new Israeli legislation as "an explicit declaration that the life of the detainee no longer has value", arguing that documentation must feed into media exposure, legal action, and popular mobilisation simultaneously.

The campaign has received backing from Palestinian and human rights figures, including Mustafa Barghouti, as well as lawyers, activists, and social media figures across the region and beyond.

The global online campaign will launch on Thursday at 6pm GMT, corresponding to 7pm CET, 8pm Jerusalem time, and 9pm Mecca time, with organisers calling on participants to share photos, videos and messages of solidarity to push the detainees' issue back into international media focus.