Gaza Herald – A Palestinian human rights center warned Thursday of an escalating Israeli policy of arresting Palestinian children, describing it as one of the most dangerous and systematic violations against a group protected under international law, with long-term psychological and physical consequences.
The Palestinian Center for Prisonersâ Defense said Israeli authorities currently detain more than 350 Palestinian children, most from the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem, with documented cases from Gaza, particularly during periods of military escalation. Hundreds of children are arrested each year, often during violent night raids on family homes.
According to the center, arrests are typically carried out through home invasions that terrorize families, followed by blindfolding and shackling children before transferring them to interrogation centers. Most child detainees in the West Bank are prosecuted in Israeli military courts that fail to meet basic standards of juvenile justice, while children in Jerusalem face house arrest, exile, and heavy fines.
The center reported that detained children are subjected to harsh interrogations lasting hours without legal counsel or parental presence, including threats and intimidation to extract confessions. Many are forced to sign statements in Hebrew, a language they do not understand, which are later used against them in court.
Rights groups stressed that detention conditions violate the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Fourth Geneva Convention, citing overcrowding, poor nutrition, denial of medical care, and deprivation of education. Israeli prisons currently hold about 9,300 Palestinians, including 51 women and nearly 350 children, prompting renewed calls for urgent international protection and the immediate release of all child detainees.
