Hamas calls for Palestinian children to be protected from Israeli violence

The Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement called on Sunday for Palestinian children to be protected from Israeli violence and rights violations.

According to a statement from Hamas marking on 4 June the UN International Day of Innocent Child Victims of Aggression, the movement placed responsibility for protecting Palestinian children on political, humanitarian and rights groups, as well as on free states and people.

“Rights groups and all free organisations and individuals should act to expose the Israeli occupation’s crimes and violations against Palestinian children and work towards ending such systematic violence and prosecute the perpetrators before international courts,” said Hamas. “This international day should remind the world once again of the continued suffering, oppression and violations that Palestinian children have been subjected to due to Israeli aggression.”

Since the start of this year, Israeli occupation forces have killed 28 Palestinian children and detained dozens across the occupied territories.

“Moreover, as a result of the Israeli siege imposed on the Gaza Strip, Palestinian children are being denied access to medical treatment, food and medicines,” explained Hamas. “The Israeli occupation is targeting Palestinian children in the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem through abduction, detention, fatal shootings and arrests, and is using them as human shields.”

Citing rights groups, the movement pointed out that there are more than 166 Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons, six of whom are being held under administrative detention with neither charge nor trial. In prison, it added, Palestinian children are subjected to the most heinous forms of physical and psychological torture. “This is a flagrant violation of all international conventions, norms and laws.”

The continued international silence over the Israeli violations against Palestinian children, coupled with double standards towards such matters, give the Israeli occupation a green light to practice further terrorism against innocent children, Hamas concluded. It called for Palestinian children to be “protected from Israeli aggression and terrorism; to be released from Israeli jails; and to be allowed to have a childhood in peace and with dignity like other children around the world.”

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