The delegation – coordinated by the Progressive International, the National Lawyers Guild of the United States, and the International Association of Democratic Lawyers – brings together legal experts, human rights defenders, and parliamentary representatives from across the world.

The delegation arrives to Palestine after more than one year of Israel‘s genocide in Gaza, and decades of its occupation of Palestinian territories. Since October 2023 alone, the number of Palestinians detained in Israeli prisons has nearly doubled, from at least 5,250 to more than 10,100 as of October 2024, per the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society. Nearly thirty-four percent of current Palestinian detainees—3,398 of them—are under “administrative detention,” held without charges or trials for up to six months. In total, 9,392 Palestinians—including women and children—have been incarcerated by the Israeli Occupation under “administrative detention” in the past year.

Conditions for Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons amount to torture: As revealed by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, Israeli detention facilities are defined by widespread and systematic starvation, humiliation, rape, and physical abuse of Palestinian prisoners. Not only has the Israeli state ignored and denied the extensive documentation of human rights violations reported by Palestinian detainees, but it has also on several occasions blocked access for journalists, lawyers, family members, and Red Cross inspectors to enter Israeli torture camps such as Sde Teiman to investigate and document the extent of human rights violations against Palestinians.

The delegation commences its work immediately. Ada Colau, former mayor of Barcelona and lead delegate in Palestine, said: “we came with an international delegation not only to observe, but also to demand a total arms embargo against Israel to stop the genocide, dismantle the occupation, and defend international law.”

Over the coming days, the Progressive International will report its activities and release the findings of its investigation. We call on legal experts, parliamentarians, and human rights defenders worldwide to join this urgent mission for justice, accountability, and Palestinian liberation.