Ramallah, February 5 (RHC)-- The Israeli regime is currently holding captive over 4800 Palestinians, including children and women, according to a Palestinian official.

The Head of the Census Department at the Palestinian Ministry of Detainees, Abdul-Nasser Ferwana, said that Israel is holding the prisoners in seventeen prisons as well as detention and interrogation centers. The Palestinian official stated that Israeli soldiers have kidnapped and detained more than 10,000 Palestinian children since the beginning of the al-Aqsa Intifada, in September 2000.

Ferwana said that the Israeli regime has imprisoned about 11034 Palestinians, including 2500 children, over the last three years. He noted that they have been taken prisoner by the Israeli army during ongoing Israeli military invasions and violations. And he added that 150 administrative detainees are currently being held in Israeli prisons, including 12 elected Palestinian legislators.

Administrative detention is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians for up to six months. The detention order can be renewed for indefinite periods of time.

The official further said that Israel holds Palestinian prisoners, without charges or trial, under terrible medical conditions, adding that there are 1,500 detainees suffering from various diseases, including cancer, and many of the prisoners have completely lost their mobility and various bodily functions.

He noted that as many as 205 Palestinian detainees have died after their arrest because of torture during interrogation, lack of adequate medical treatment, and excessive use of force since 1967. And dozens of Palestinian prisoners have reportedly lost their lives shortly after their release due to poor medical conditions in Israeli prisons.