‘Overwhelming majority’ or Palestinian minors tortured in Israeli jails

The “overwhelming majority” of Palestinian minors held in Israel’s Megiddo and Ofer prisons have been tortured during their detention and interrogation, the Palestinian Committee of Prisoners’ Affairs said today, amid a marked increase in the incarceration and mistreatment of Palestinian children by Israel.

Lawyer for the committee Luay Ukka said in a statement that, after a visit to Ofer prison, he had noticed that the number of juvenile prisoners there had noticeably increased over the past month.

As of mid-October, he said, the number of Palestinian prisoners who were under 18 years old that were being held in Ofer reached 28, 14 of whom were under 14.

According to rights group Defence for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), Israel has also dramatically increased the use of administrative detention – internment without charge or trial – against minors.

According to DCIP, over the last year 19 Palestinian minors were administratively detained. Prior to October 2015, Israel had reportedly not held a Palestinian child from the occupied West Bank in administrative detention since December 2011.

“The overwhelming majority” of juvenile prisoners held at Ofer have been “tortured, beaten, and humiliated” during the raids carried out by Israeli forces to detain them as well as during their interrogation, according to Ukka.

Ukka also said that the majority of juvenile prisoners at Ofer prison were from Aida refugee camp and the town of Al-Ubeidiya, both in the southern occupied West Bank district of Bethlehem.

Just last week, undercover Israeli forces detained eight Palestinian children from Aida refugee camp, as residents of the camp – particularly minors – have recently been subject to an intensification of violent military raids.