New Delhi, Oct. 27 -- A contested headcount, a sealed-off system, and the law that keeps families guessing.

Ramallah - The central question that animates every new round of negotiations, protests, and court petitions in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is deceptively simple: How many Palestinians are in Israeli custody, and under what terms are they held? In late October 2025, the answer depends on which ledger you open and on which day you ask. Following an October prisoner exchange tied to the ceasefire talks, rights groups and United Nations monitors say the number of Palestinians held in Israeli prisons and officially recognized detention centers sits at more than 9,100, while the tally earlier in the month exceeded 11,000, a post-20...