Report: Israel detains 1,319 Palestinians, 274 minors

Israeli forces detained over 1,000 Palestinians, including 274 children, in January and February this year, according to Palestinian prisoners rights group Addameer.

In a statement released yesterday the organisation cited a joint report by the Prisoners and Liberties Affairs Association, Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, and Al Mezan Centre for Human Rights, which says that during January and February Israeli forces arrested 1,319 Palestinians from the occupied Palestinian territory.

Among the detainees were 274 children, 23 women and four journalists.

Those arrested included: 381 individuals from Jerusalem; 233 from the Ramallah and Al-Bireh district and 20 from the Salfit district in the central West Bank; 140 from the Hebron district and 118 from the Bethlehem district in the southern West Bank; 133 from the Jenin district, 107 from the Nablus district, 59 from the Tulkarem district, and 54 from the Qalqiliya district in the northern West Bank; 21 from the Jericho district and 30 from the Gaza Strip.

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The number of Palestinian prisoners and detainees in Israeli jails, as of 28 February, was 6,500, Addameer reported.

Of the 6,500 prisoners, 63 were women, including six girls, and 350 were children.

Some 169 administrative detention orders were issued during that time, including 52 new orders and the remainder being renewals.

As of the end of February, the total number of administrative detainees was 500, Addameer said.

The report also drew attention to the issue of full strip searches carried out by Israeli prison authorities, citing several testimonies submitted by detainees, which claimed that these searches “violated their basic dignity”.

The report went on to detail violations against female prisoners in Israeli prisons, which include: the denial of medical treatment, poor quality food, overcrowding in the places of detention and physical and psychological abuse.

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