Report: 95% of new Palestinian detainees in Israel jails are youth

Israeli mass arrests against Palestinians increased dramatically in December, the Palestinian Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs revealed yesterday, noting that 95 per cent of the new prisoners are youths.

“Israeli forces’ violations and arbitrary measures against the prisoners have neglected the age differences,” the committee pointed out.

The committee’s lawyer, Louay Akka, said that dozens of new prisoners who recently arrived at the Israeli Ofer Prison have been exposed to “brutal attacks” during their interrogation.

Akka quoted some of the prisoners’ lawyers as saying that their clients “were severely tortured in detentions”.

“Ahmed Samirat, a 17-year-old Palestinian from the Hebron village of Yatta, was brutally attacked and tortured by 12 soldiers, leaving him unconscious for five hours,” the Palestinian committee said.

Read: Administrative detention of Palestinian minor renewed

The young tortured prisoners included 15 year olds Ibrahim Al-Qawasmi and Louay Nashteh from Hebron, Wael Hashash, 19, and Attallah Hashash, 24, from Nablus, Ahmed Qassem, 19, from Jenin, and Ahmed Abu Rahma (17) from Ramallah, according to the committee.

Over 6,500 Palestinians, including 300 children, are currently languishing in Israeli prisons, according to official Palestinian figures.