Ramallah, May 26 (RHC)-- The Israeli military has placed more than three dozen Palestinians under administrative detention, sending them to prison without charge or trial.  The Palestinian Prisoners' Society (PPS) said that 10 detainees were placed under administrative detention for the first time, while the orders were extended for 27 others.

Among the detainees was MP Abdol Jaber al-Foghaha, a member of the Palestine Legislative Council (PLC).  The Member of Parliament has previously spent seven years in Israeli jails.  Israeli officials also issued a new one-year extension to the detention of a 12-year-old Palestinian boy.

Under administrative detention, Israel keeps prisoners in custody without charge or trial for up to six months, a period which can be extended indefinitely by Israeli military courts.  In most cases, the detainees are simply informed that there is "secret evidence" against them and that they are being held for "security reasons.

There are reportedly more than 6,500 Palestinians held at Israeli jails, with some 750 of them held in administrative detention.  The inmates, mostly activists and journalists, regularly hold hunger strikes in protest at both the administrative detention policy and harsh prison conditions.

In recent months, the regime in Tel Aviv has stepped up its arrest campaign against Palestinian activists amid simmering tensions in the occupied West Bank.