Gaza City, Gaza Strip – In her makeshift canvas tent, Inaam al-Dahdouh sits with her six grandchildren, turning over a photograph of her three sons, detained two years ago in the first few months of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza.
As Palestinian Prisoners’ Day is marked on Friday, the 62-year-old mother finds herself living a different kind of pain this year
It is no longer only the anguish of imprisonment and separation, but a looming fear shaped by new and uncertain scenarios following the approval of an Israeli law allowing the execution of Palestinian prisoners in late March 2026.
Palestinians mark Palestinian Prisoners’ Day annually on April 17. This year, it comes amid an unprecedented surge in the number of detainees and worsening conditions
According to prisoners’ advocacy groups, more than 9,600 Palestinians are currently held in Israeli prisons as of early April 2026, compared with about 5,250 before the war – an increase of nearly 83 percent. They include 350 children, and more than 3,530 administrative detainees held without charge
More than 100 prisoners have also died in custody since the war began in October 2023, amid reports of a severe deterioration in detention conditions
But now the fear is that Israel will attempt to execute Palestinian prisoners. The Israeli parliament passed a law on March 30 allowing the death penalty to be implemented, but only against those convicted in a military court of killing Israelis
In practice, that means West Bank Palestinians, as Israelis are tried in civilian courts, but there is also discussion of a separate tribunal for Palestinians from Gaza, for which the Israeli right-wing is likely to push the use of the death penalty
“I raise them and teach them the Quran,” she says, explaining that she keeps herself occupied with this as a gift for Mahmoud, who would be happy to see his children memorising the Quran, as he had wished before his detention
For Inaam, the only solution for her sons and all prisoners is what she describes as a “global stance” to pressure Israel to reverse what she calls unjust decisions against prisoners
“A prisoner has the right to live, the right to dignity … what is happening to prisoners is something insane … something the human mind cannot comprehend
The whole world should reject this,” she says.