File photo shows Palestinian prisoners in an Israeli prison in the occupied territories.   (Photo via social media)

Ramallah, June 17 (RHC)-- An independent and non-governmental rights organization says more than 9,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently being held behind bars in Israeli jails and detention centers.

The official Palestinian news agency WAFA, citing a statement released by the Palestine Prisoners Society (PPS) on Sunday, reported that there are presently 9,300 Palestinians in Israeli prisons, and the figure includes 75 women and some 250 children.

The PPS added that the figure includes prisoners from the Gaza Strip, noting that the Israel Prison Service has announced that 899 Palestinians from Gaza are being held in Israeli custody as unlawful combatants.  The “unlawful combatant,” an uneulogized category under international law, is defined in Israeli law as “someone who directly or indirectly participated in hostile acts against Israel.”

The rights group further noted that over 3,400 Palestinians are currently held without trial or charge under Israel’s notorious policy of administrative detention

Among the Palestinians placed under administrative detention are approximately 600 detainees, who are either serving life sentences or Israeli authorities intend to issue sentences of life imprisonment against them.

Palestinian detainees have continuously resorted to open-ended hunger strikes in an attempt to express outrage at their illegal detention.  Israel keeps Palestinian inmates under deplorable conditions without proper hygienic standards. Palestinian inmates have also been subject to systematic torture, harassment, and repression.

Human rights organizations say Israel continues to violate all rights and freedoms granted to prisoners by the Fourth Geneva Convention and international laws.

According to the Palestine Detainees Studies Center, around 60 percent of the Palestinian prisoners detained in Israeli jails suffer from chronic diseases, a number of whom died in detention or after being released due to the severity of their cases.