Occupation arrested 900 Palestinian children last year

Official Palestinian data confirms that Israeli forces arrested 900 Palestinian children over the past year, unlike previous years where the occupation averaged 700 child prisoners.

The Ministry of Prisoner’s Affairs in Ramallah has published a report stating that “The detention of children and their torture have turned into a systematic policy practiced by the occupation authorities; a policy that constitutes a violation of both international conventions and agreements related to the rights of detained children.”

The report pointed out that nearly 180 children under the age of 18 are currently detained in Israeli jails, distributed among the prisons in Ofer, Megiddo and Sharon.

The majority of the children say they are subjected to beatings and torture during their detention and interrogation, and they are all deprived of their legal rights while tried before the same military courts as adults.

According to the report, the detained children are also denied their right to medical care, education and humanitarian treatment, and they often complain about the harassment they face from Al-Nahshon forces, which are responsible for their transfer to the Israeli courts.