Report: Israel soldiers beat, abuse Palestinian child prisoners

The Palestinian Committee of Prisoners and Released Prisoners’ Affairs said the Israeli army has beaten and severely abused Palestinian children during their arrest and interrogation.

In a report issued yesterday, the committee said it has documented a testimony by Palestinian child prisoner, Mohammed Khamis, 17 from the town of Beit Ummar in occupied Hebron, who described the torture and humiliation he endured in Israeli interrogation canters.

Khamis outlined details of his arrest, pointing out that he was arrested after he was attacked by a number of soldiers who had severely beaten him on the stomach and his abdomen.

“At one point, an Israeli soldier grabbed my mouth and violently forced it to the other side, while the rest of the soldiers continued to beat me,” Khamis said.

Later, I was taken into a military jeep where the soldiers did not stop beating me on the head with the butts of their rifles.

According to Khamis, Israeli interrogators at the Kiryat Arba detention centre shouted at him and cursed him to force him to confess to the charges against him.

The committee’s report has also documented abuse including severe beating by the Israeli forces against the following minors: Mu’adh Al-Madhoun, 17 from Jabalia refugee camp in Gaza, Muhammad Al-Jabri, 15 from Al-‘Arroub refugee camp, Ayman Hamzawi, 19 from Askar refugee camp near Nablus, Anees Sabahiyeh, 18 from Al Fawwar refugee camp in Hebron, Mohammed Shreidi, 17 from Tubas governorate, Walid Al Ashqar, 26 from Nablus and Omar Shehada, 25 from Al-Arroub refugee camp in Hebron.

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