Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israel has welcomed large numbers of Ukrainian and Russian Jews within the scope of its Law of Return. Its treatment of these groups, however, stands in stark contrast to that experienced by other refugees and asylum seekers–many of whom face detention and deportation. Most recently, the country’s Interior Ministry announced […]
Israel: Covid-19 and Detention
The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) in early March 2020, after the discovery of seven cases in Bethlehem linked to a tourist group from Greece. In response, the Palestinian Authority declared a state of emergency, imposed a citywide lockdown, and enforced a curfew. Between March and June, there […]
Israel: Covid-19 and Detention
Prior to the Covid-19 crisis, large numbers of Palestinians travelled to work in Israel on a daily or weekly basis. However, due to fears that such travel could further spread the virus, Israel’s emergency regulations required Palestinian workers to remain in the country and prevented them from returning to the West Bank. (Authorities issued stay […]
Israel: Covid-19 and Detention
After deconfinement began on 27 in Israel, new Covid infections increased sharply. However, the real number of infections in the country is difficult to assess because of fears amongst workers about the consequences of presenting themselves for testing. Migrant workers and asylum seekers appear to have a much higher infection rate than the rest of […]
Israel: Covid-19 and Detention
Israel has implemented several measures impacting migrants and asylum seekers as well as prisoners. While one NGO, Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, has reported that they were been able to get some people released from immigration detention since the crisis began, the GDP has found no additional reports detailing what, if any, measures are being […]
Last updated: February 2011
DETENTION STATISTICS
DETAINEE DATA
ALTERNATIVES TO DETENTION
ADDITIONAL ENFORCEMENT DATA
PRISON DATA
POPULATION DATA
SOCIO-ECONOMIC DATA & POLLS
LEGAL & REGULATORY FRAMEWORK
Detention-Related Legislation
Prevention of Infiltration (Offences and Jurisdiction) Law, 5714-1954, 8 LSI 133 (5714-1953/54). as amended
(1954)
2014
GROUNDS FOR DETENTION
LENGTH OF DETENTION
DETENTION INSTITUTIONS
Detention Facility Management
PROCEDURAL STANDARDS & SAFEGUARDS
COSTS & OUTSOURCING
COVID-19 DATA
TRANSPARENCY
MONITORING
NATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MONITORING BODIES
NATIONAL PREVENTIVE MECHANISMS (OPTIONAL PROTOCOL TO UN CONVENTION AGAINST TORTURE)
NON-GOVERNMENTAL ORGANISATIONS (NGOs)
GOVERNMENTAL MONITORING BODIES
INTERNATIONAL DETENTION MONITORING
INTERNATIONAL TREATIES & TREATY BODIES
International Treaties Ratified
Ratification Year
Observation Date
CTOCTP, Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children
2008
2008
CAT, Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment
1991
1991
Ratio of relevant international treaties ratified
Ratio: 11/19
Relevant Recommendations or Observations Issued by Treaty Bodies
Recommendation Year
Observation Date
Committee on the Rights of the Child
Asylum-seeking and migrant children
46. The Committee remains deeply concerned about asylum-seeking and migrant children who do not have access to basic services, including childcare, education, health services and social security, often due to a pending application for refugee status, and about the detention and ill-treatment of such children.
(c) Ensure that asylum-seeking children are not detained on the basis of their or their parents’ migration status, including by repealing legal provisions that allow for the prolonged detention of children, and that alternatives to detention are available through the timely provision of safe and dignified accommodation.
2024
2024
2024
Human Rights Committee
Treatment of refugees and asylum seekers
40. The Committee is concerned about the persisting low recognition rate of refugees in the State party and the reported lack of coherent and transparent rules and criteria for the refugee status determination procedure. It is further concerned at significant waiting times for the asylum procedure, lack of access to free legal aid throughout asylum proceedings and the automatic detention of asylum seekers and refugees who enter the country irregularly. It also notes with concern reports that, despite the State party’s assurance that the third countries were safe and there has been no known case of the violation of the prohibition of non-refoulement, some Sudanese and Eritrean refugees who were relocated from Israel to undisclosed third countries have been subjected to ill-treatment and human trafficking (arts.
2, 6, 7, 9, 13 and 26).
41. Recalling its previous recommendations,28 the Committee recommends that the
State party:
(d) Review its policy of relocating Sudanese and Eritrean refugees to
undisclosed third countries, with a view to finding safe and durable solutions for them in line with the principle of non-refoulement.
2022
2022
2022
Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination
§ 41. The State party: (a) Ensure that the refugee status determination procedure is in full compliance with the Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and that the process of application is fair and effective; (b) Amend the Law for the Prevention of Infiltration and any other relevant legislation in order to ensure that they do not stigmatize asylum seekers and are in line with the State party ’s international obligations ; (c) Consider abolishing the provisions that require employers to deduct a significant percentage of the salaries of employees falling under the Law for the Prevention of Infiltration, which further hampers their socioeconomic status and opportunities; (d) Ensure equal access to and quality education of children of asylum seekers, continue the establishment of educational institutions, including by increasing the number of public kindergartens, and put an end to the de facto segregated schooling system ; (e) Ensure adequate protection for all stateless persons and establish an effective mechanism to end statelessness among Bedouins.
2020
2020
2020
Committee against Torture
45. The State party should take the legislative and other measures necessary with a view to ensuring that the detention of persons entering its territory irregularly is only used as a last resort, when determined to be strictly necessary and proportionate in each individual case, and for as short a period as possible.
2016
2016
2016
Human Rights Committee
§20 […] (d) Ensure that the new legislation abolishes the system of automatic detention of asylum seekers and requires that in each case, detention is reasonable, necessary and proportionate in light of the circumstances, and reassessed as it extends in time
2014
2014
2014
Committee on the Rights of the Child
§70 […](d) Cease with immediate effect the detention of children on the basis of their immigration status; (e) Conduct individual assessments and evaluations of the best interests of the child at all decision stages of the migration process affecting children, and with the involvement of child protection professionals, the judiciary as well as children themselves. Primary consideration should also be given to the best interests of the child in any proceeding resulting in the child’s or their parents’ detention, return or deportation;
2013
2013
2013
> UN Special Procedures
> UN Universal Periodic Review
REGIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS MECHANISMS
HEALTH CARE PROVISION
HEALTH IMPACTS
COVID-19
Country Updates
Since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Israel has welcomed large numbers of Ukrainian and Russian Jews within the scope of its Law of Return. Its treatment of these groups, however, stands in stark contrast to that experienced by other refugees and asylum seekers–many of whom face detention and deportation. Most recently, the country’s Interior Ministry announced its intention to permit deportations to Sudan.
Approximately 13,000 Ukrainians with Jewish heritage are reported to have made aliyah (or emigrated) to Israel since 24 February. Soon after Russian forces began bombarding Ukraine, Israel’s Ministry of Aliyah and Integration removed bureaucratic hurdles to help expedite the aliyah process for potential Ukrainian olim (immigrants), and authorities set up aliyah processing centres at Ukrainian border crossings with Hungary, Poland, Moldova, and Romania. As part of an emergency plan dubbed “Arvut Israel” (“Israel Guarantees”), Israel vowed to provide temporary accommodation to Ukrainian olim in Israel and to absorb them into integration programmes.
Speaking shortly after the arrival of the first group of Ukrainians in early March, the country’s Minister of Aliyah and Integration said: "They are welcomed in Israel with a big hug. The children who do not have a home or parents represent the great need of all those who escape to Israel to find warmth and safety. The State of Israel will assist those children and all of the other olim with all the assets available to the government of Israel.”
Even larger numbers of Russians have also made aliyah since the invasion began. Following Putin’s partial mobilisation announcement on 21 September, the largest call-up in Russia since World War II, Israel has witnessed a surge in Russians entering the country. Unlike many governments, Jerusalem has not adopted official sanctions against Moscow and the country’s national airline has continued to operate direct flights to Moscow.
While those eligible for aliyah have been welcomed, some Russians arriving on tourist visas have found themselves denied entry, and have been detained and deported. According to information received by Haaretz newspaper, between 24 February and 1 October 2022 more than 2,000 Russians have been blocked from entering the country. Several recent cases have attracted widespread attention and criticism–including that of the detention and deportation to Turkey of a Russian wheelchair-bound wife of an Israeli citizen along with her 13-year-old son, and the deportation to Russia of a mother with her seven-month-old baby.
Following public backlash in the wake of these cases, Israel’s Interior Ministry instructed the Population and Immigration Authority to grant entry to couples even if only one person is an Israeli citizen - thus allowing people to enter the country before they complete the various bureaucratic procedures required for gaining residency.
Israel’s Law of Return gives anyone who is Jewish (born or converted), the spouses of Jewish persons, and persons with Jewish parents or grandparents, the right to move to Israel and claim Israeli citizenship. However, those without such a background or family connections face a starkly different reality.
Following a controversial 2012 amendment to the country’s Prevention of Infiltration Law, all refugees, asylum seekers, and migrants entering the country “irregularly”--such as those crossing from Egypt–are labelled as “infiltrators” and subsequently face detention. The country has no national asylum legislation, authorities routinely reject asylum claims, and successive government policies have sought to coerce non-nationals–in particular Africans–into leaving “voluntarily.” This has included the deduction of 20 percent from salaries and placing this in accounts that can only be accessed if they depart the country, and barring asylum seekers from certain professions in major cities.
Most recently, on 18 October the Israeli Interior Minister Ayelet Shaked announced plans to tighten the country’s policy on Sudanese asylum seekers after a review concluded that they are not in enough danger in Sudan to justify seeking asylum. Currently, asylum seekers from Darfur and the Nuba Mountains are entitled to temporary residency in Israel. But the Interior Ministry’s conclusion that persons from these regions are not systematically persecuted on the basis of their ethnic origin, and that Khartoum is a suitable residential option for them, could pave the way to deportations. Previously in April Shaked also announced plans to remove protection of Congolese citizens. From December 8, Israel will be able to deport Congolese persons who do not have pending asylum applications.
The first case of COVID-19 was confirmed in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) in early March 2020, after the discovery of seven cases in Bethlehem linked to a tourist group from Greece. In response, the Palestinian Authority declared a state of emergency, imposed a citywide lockdown, and enforced a curfew. Between March and June, there were only 665 registered cases of COVID-19 in the West Bank and Gaza, 180 cases among Palestinians in Jerusalem, and limited cases among Palestinians in Israel. However, the onset of a second wave from July resulted in rapid growth of the number of cases. By the end of November 2020, the territories, including east Jerusalem, had reported nearly 85,000 confirmed cases of COVID-19 and 714 deaths.
The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees (UNRWA) has put in measures to slow the spread of the virus, including giving medical consultations by phone, delivering humanitarian assistance to avoid overcrowding at distribution centres, and blending school with remote learning. However, these measures have been criticised for being insufficient to prevent the spread. On 10 November 2020, the spokesperson for UNRWA reported that the agency had run out of cash on hand to keep vital services going amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Numerous concerns, meanwhile, have been raised regarding healthcare provision in the OPT, particularly in Gaza, where medical infrastructure is chronically under-resourced and has, in the past, faced militarised attacks--as well as the effects of years of suffocating blockades. In April, it was reported that between the three hospitals located in East Jerusalem, there are only 22 ventilators and 62 beds prepared for coronavirus patients. Moreover, attempts by Palestinians to mobilise community health initiatives have been met with crackdowns on the part of the Israeli police.
At the end of August 2020, 355 Palestinians--including two minors--continued to be held in administrative detention in Israel Prison Service (IPS) facilities, according to B’Tselem. Administrative detention is permitted under Article 285 of Military Order 1651, which is part of the military legislation applying in the West Bank; the Internment of Unlawful Combatants Law (Unlawful Combatants Law), which has been used against residents of the Gaza Strip since 2005; and the Emergency Powers (Detentions) Law, which applies to Israeli citizens. According to the Palestinian NGO Addameer, administrative detention is used almost exclusively to detain Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territory (OPT), although Israeli citizens and foreign nationals can also be held as administrative detainees by Israel.
In November, the Palestinian Detainees Committee reported that the Israeli Prison Authority (IPA) had sealed all sections in Gilboa’ prison in central Israel and cancelled all visits from detainees’ families, after more than 80 detainees in the prison tested positive for coronavirus. Conditions within the prison have previously been criticised for being overcrowded and dirty. In March, the Israeli government released approximately 400 offenders from prisons throughout Israel for a 30-day house arrest, after which they were officially released from prison.
Prior to the Covid-19 crisis, large numbers of Palestinians travelled to work in Israel on a daily or weekly basis. However, due to fears that such travel could further spread the virus, Israel’s emergency regulations required Palestinian workers to remain in the country and prevented them from returning to the West Bank. (Authorities issued stay permits for 30 or 60 days.) Although employers were required to provide workers with accommodation, reports quickly emerged revealing that Palestinians were being housed in inhumane accommodation—including some units without beds, toilets, or running water—which fell far below the standards of other foreign nationals’ accommodation.
In April, a coalition of NGOs launched a petition urging the Israeli government the ensure the health and living conditions of Palestinian workers. The petitioners wrote, “The State of Israel is exploiting the most disadvantaged workers, keeping them under conditions akin to slavery. Their dignity is trampled upon as they are given accommodation in unsupervised construction sites, their health is neglected as no one provides them insurance during a global health crisis, and their liberty is denied when their employers process their papers but, in fact, bind them to their workplaces.”
Authorities responded, issuing new legislation that required employers to pay for their employees’ health insurance—and eventually amending the emergency regulations to specify the living conditions that employers are required to provide. This was an important step: As countries such as Germany and Singapore have witnessed, poor worker accommodation units have frequently become virus hotspots.
More recently, on 28 June, as cases began to rise again, Israel’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development informed all organisations employing Palestinians that employees would be required to remain in Israel for three weeks, and that they were to be provided with health insurance and adequate accommodation. Reports indicate that Palestinian workers have faced movement restrictions. They have been required to remain within the boundaries of their workplace and nearby accommodation, and may not leave the premises to purchase food or medication—their Israeli employer must instead provide such supplies.
After deconfinement began on 27 in Israel, new Covid infections increased sharply. However, the real number of infections in the country is difficult to assess because of fears amongst workers about the consequences of presenting themselves for testing. Migrant workers and asylum seekers appear to have a much higher infection rate than the rest of the population. The government's National Information and Knowledge Center reports that 25 percent of tested foreign workers were positive for COVID-19. However, due to the fear of losing their jobs if they are infected, many asylum-seekers do not get tested. Official estimates put the number of foreign workers in Tel Aviv alone at roughly 40,000.
In a joint press statement on 11 May, UN officials called for the release of all children detained by the Israeli authorities in prisons and detention centres. Mentioning the Convention on the Rights of the Child, the statement said that “since the start of the COVID-19 crisis in Israel, legal proceedings are on hold, almost all prison visits are cancelled, and children are denied in-person access to their families and their lawyers. This creates additional hardship, psychological suffering, and prevents the child from receiving the legal advice to which they are entitled.”
At the end of March, UN officials estimated that 194 Palestinian were detained in Israel. On 16 April, a Palestinian NGO pressed Israeli authorities to ensure the rights of detainees. The organisation, Al Mezan Center for Human Rights, highlighted “overcrowding, unsanitary conditions, and inadequate access to healthcare” while pointing out that Palestinian prisoner are classified separately to regular prisoners. A petition was submitted to the Israeli High Court of Justice to demand that inmates be allowed to communicate with their family. At the time of this update, the court only responded by allowing minors a 10-minute call every two weeks.
On 14 April, a coalition of NGOs issued an open letter to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) urging the body to do more to protect “Palestinian prisoners’ right to health, particularly as many are minors, chronically ill, members of vulnerable groups, or held under administrative detention in contravention of international law.” The letter states that Israeli occupying authorities have disregarded Covid-19 guidelines in dealing with Palestinian prisoners and mentions that while the Israeli government released some 400 non-violent prisoners selected on the basis of health conditions and age, the government has not established the same release policy for Palestinian prisoners. Although some Palestinian prisoners had been freed, the government had not established any health or safety precautions to assist those infected or to protect the communities they are returning to.
Israel has implemented several measures impacting migrants and asylum seekers as well as prisoners. While one NGO, Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, has reported that they were been able to get some people released from immigration detention since the crisis began, the GDP has found no additional reports detailing what, if any, measures are being taken by authorities in administrative immigration detention centres. There have also been increasing calls by rights actors demanding that Israel release Palestinian children held in Israeli jails, in particular as prisoners’ exposure to the coronavirus has increassed.
In a 11 April interview with the Times of Israel, an advocate from the group Hotline explained that since the crisis began they have been emphasizing in their work getting asylum seekers released from detention: “Someone can be in jail for six months for a very light felony, and then they are suddenly transferred to administrative detention. All it takes is a decision by an official from the Population and Immigration Authority, who deems them a danger to society. … At that point, they can be held for a year or even two. So we try to get them released and give them legal representation. It’s become more urgent now, because there is a risk of mass contagion in prisons. In recent weeks we have been able to release seven people, and we are currently representing 10 more in an attempt to set them free.”
Israel closed its borders in mid-March, barring all non-citizens from entering the country to curb the spread of Covid-19. The Population and Immigration Authority said that an exception would be made for non-nationals whose “centre of life is in Israel.” The Ministry of the Interior then extended all visas for non-citizens that are currently in Israel until 30 June 2020.
Also in early March, authorities suspended all family visits to the country’s prisons as well as lawyers’ visits. These and other measures provoked widespread protests in prisons, in particular after reports that prisoners had been exposed to security personnel who had tested positive for Covid-19. According to Haaretz (23 March), “Palestinian prisoners serving sentences in Israeli jails for security-related offenses are threatening to go on a hunger strike to protest measures enforced by the Israel Prison Service, seeking to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. The prisoners object to searches conducted in their cells by prison guards without any protective gloves or face masks, as well as a ban on leaving cells and meeting their attorneys and family members, who the prison service fears might infect prisoners or guards with the virus if allowed into prisons.”
On 1 April 2020, a Palestinian prisoner released from Ofer prison who had spent 12 days detained alongside 36 people, tested positive for Covid-19. However, even after being notified of this, the Israeli prison administration announced no plans to release or even test the prisoners held there.
Defense for Children International Palestine (DCIP) reported on 19 March: “Four Palestinian prisoners detained at Israel’s Megiddo prison, located inside Israel northwest of the occupied West Bank city of Jenin, were placed in isolation after they were in contact with a COVID-19 positive Israeli officer. … Megiddo prison is one of several detention facilities located inside Israel where Palestinian child ‘security prisoners’ are held. ‘We know the best way to prevent the spread of COVID-19 is for people to avoid being in close proximity to each other, said Ayed Abu Eqtaish, Accountability Program director at DCIP. ‘There is no way Israeli prison authorities can ensure the health and well-being of Palestinian child detainees as long as they continue to be in a custodial detention setting.’ An investigation by DCIP previously found Palestinian child prisoners detained in Israel’s Damon prison were held in poor conditions, including small rooms without access to clean and private bathroom facilities. Conditions such as these increase risks and exposure to unsanitary conditions where the COVID-19 virus thrives.”
Government Agencies
Ministry of Aliyah and Immigrant Absorption,http://www.moia.gov.il/english/pages/default.aspx
Knesset Information and Research Centre, http://www.knesset.gov.il/mmm/eng/index.asp
International Organisations
UNHCR Israel Profile, http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/page?page=49e4864b6
United Nation Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees, http://www.unrwa.org/
NGO & Research Institutions
Association for Civil Rights in Israel, http://www.acri.org.il/en/
African Refugee Development Center, http://www.ardc-israel.org/
Amnesty International Israel, http://www.amnesty.org.il/
ASSAF - Aid Organization for Refugees and Asylum Seekers in Israel, http://www.assaf.org.il/
B'Tselem, www.btselem.org
Hotline for Refugees and Migrants, http://hotline.org.il/en/main/
Israel Religious Action Center Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism, http://www.irac.org/
Kav LaOved (Worker's Hotline), http://www.kavlaoved.org.il/en/
The Israel Association for Ethiopian Jews (IAEJ), http://www.iaej.co.il/en/
