Ramallah, Dec 25 (IANS): More than 6,500 Palestinians, including hundreds of children, are currently being held in Israeli prisons, Press TV reported citing a Palestinian official.

On Wednesday, Abdul-Nasser Ferwana, the head of the Palestinian Detainees Committee, said that most of the Palestinian detainees were imprisoned over the past few months.

“Latest statistics indicate that the current number of detainees is 6,500, held in 18 prisons, detention camps and interrogation centres,” Ferwana said.

“Two hundred of them are children, 21 are women, and nearly 500 are held under administrative detention, without charges or trial.”

The Palestinian official added that the arrests and imprisonments had been done in “revenge” and retaliation against a civilian population.

About 4,000 Palestinians have been detained since June 2014, when three Israeli settlers disappeared and their bodies were found after wards.

He added that 31 of the detainees have been in prison for more than 20 years, while 16 have been in jail for over 25 years. Also, 478 detainees are serving life terms.

Earlier in June, dozens of Palestinian prisoners who had been on a hunger strike in protest against Israel’s so-called administrative detention were hospitalised over health concerns.

Administrative detention is a sort of imprisonment without trial or charge that allows Israel to incarcerate Palestinians for up to six months; the detention order can be renewed for an indefinite period of time.