Israel labelled 4,500 detained Gaza civilians as ‘unlawful combatants’, report finds

At least 4,500 Palestinian civilians abducted from Gaza by Israeli forces have been classified as “unlawful combatants” and held without charge or trial, according to a new report.

Citing classified Israeli military data, The Guardian reported on Thursday that only one in four Palestinians detained since the genocide began in October 2023 and labelled as unlawful combatants were actually fighters.

The remainder were detained arbitrarily under the "unlawful combatant" legislation, including doctors, journalists, teachers, civil servants, the sick and disabled, and children.

They were held in notorious Israeli prisons and detention facilities, including the Sde Teiman military camp.

There, detainees were subjected to widespread and severe mistreatment, including torture, resulting in the deaths of dozens in custody.

The abuses - including starvation, sexual assault, physical violence and medical neglect - have been widely documented by human rights groups and media reports.

The “unlawful combatant” legislation allows Israeli authorities to hold detainees indefinitely.

No one sent to trial

Individuals can be imprisoned for up to 75 days before appearing before a judge and denied access to legal counsel for up to four months.

No individuals captured in Gaza since October 2023 are known to have faced trial, according to The Guardian.

Military data indicate that by May, around 6,000 Palestinians had been detained in Gaza under the “unlawful combatant” classification. Of these, only 1,450 were confirmed fighters from Hamas or Islamic Jihad, according to the Israeli military.

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More than 3,000 have since been released back to Gaza. 

Currently, at least 2,662 people remain detained as unlawful combatants, according to the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs and Addameer.

Israel is also holding up to 300 Palestinians from Gaza in criminal detention over suspected involvement in the 7 October 2003 attacks. Despite Israel claiming to have sufficient evidence, none have been brought to trial.

Separately, Israeli forces have carried out approximately 18,500 arrests across the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem since October 2023 - an average of over 800 arrests per month, marking a surge not seen in decades.

More than 11,100 Palestinians from the West Bank and East Jerusalem are currently in Israeli custody, according to Palestinian prisoner-monitoring groups.

Among them are over 3,500 held under administrative detention, imprisoned indefinitely without charge or trial.