WASHINGTON / JEONJU – A new report by the U.S.-based group American Muslims for Palestine (AMP) reveals that Israel has jailed over one million Palestinians since 1967—an average of 47 people per day over nearly six decades. The report accuses the United States of bankrolling this system of mass incarceration, which the group describes as the “backbone” of Israel’s military occupation of Palestine.
The study, titled “The Carceral History of Occupied Palestine”, paints a bleak picture of widespread imprisonment, torture, and administrative detention used as tools of domination. As of May 2025, Israel was holding 10,068 Palestinians in custody, including 3,577 detained without charge.
“Israel’s carceral system, with its military courts, torture practices, child imprisonment, and indefinite detentions, is a deliberate apparatus of control,” the report states. “It is not incidental—it is foundational.”
Personal Testimonies and Abuse
One case highlighted is that of Fidaa Assaf, a Palestinian woman abducted on February 24 while returning home from medical treatment in Ramallah. Despite battling cancer, Assaf has been held in Israel’s Damon Prison—described by rights groups as overcrowded and unsanitary—alongside other female prisoners, including pregnant women such as Zahraa and Doaa Kawazbeh. Assaf reportedly endured strip searches, verbal abuse, and denial of food and water for days.
AMP says such cases are not isolated but part of a systemic policy designed to intimidate, suppress, and displace the Palestinian population.
Surging Detentions, Harsh Conditions
The report notes a sharp rise in administrative detentions following Israel’s 2023 military campaign in Gaza, increasing from 350 per month to 2,373—a sevenfold surge. This form of imprisonment, often without formal charges or trials, now accounts for nearly a third of all Palestinian detainees.
In April 2025 alone, Israeli forces conducted mass arrest raids across the occupied West Bank, detaining 530 people—including 60 children and 18 women. The West Bank now contains nearly 900 Israeli military checkpoints, up from 645 in 2023, severely limiting freedom of movement for Palestinians.
The Israeli Knesset’s recent amendments, allowing life sentences for Palestinian children as young as 12 and legalizing collective punishment, were also cited as examples of growing legal repression.
U.S. Role: Financial and Diplomatic Support
According to the report, U.S. taxpayers have financed this system for decades. Since 1948, the U.S. has provided Israel with $383.75 billion in inflation-adjusted aid—including at least $3.8 billion annually since 2016. In April 2025 alone, Washington approved an additional $14.1 billion to support Israel’s military operations, including its ongoing war in Gaza.
Unlike aid to other countries, the report highlights that U.S. funds to Israel are delivered upfront, allow interest earnings, and are largely exempt from oversight—particularly through Direct Commercial Sales, which accelerate the transfer of weapons and equipment.
“This is not just complicity; it’s direct material support for a system of apartheid,” the report asserts. “To uphold international law and Palestinian human rights, this support must end.”
Gaza Genocide and Escalation in the West Bank
The AMP study comes in the context of Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza, which began in October 2023. According to Gaza’s health ministry and other sources, over 57,000 Palestinians—mostly women and children—have been killed, with an estimated 11,000 more buried under rubble. Independent experts believe the true toll may exceed 200,000.
Violence in the occupied West Bank has also intensified. Over 1,000 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli forces and settlers since the war began, amid a dramatic uptick in settlement expansion and military raids.
‘A Carceral State as a Mechanism of Apartheid’
AMP argues that Israel’s imprisonment regime is not just punitive but strategic—used to break the social fabric of Palestinian communities and suppress any form of resistance.
“Even those not imprisoned have been touched by the carceral system,” the report states. “Surveillance, checkpoints, family member arrests—these are all instruments of the same machinery.”
The group concludes that the entire system—powered by U.S. aid and arms—constitutes a form of apartheid and calls for its complete dismantling.
