530 arrests against Palestinians, including 42 children, in July only

By Al Mayadeen English
Source: Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies
3 Aug 2023 20:55

The Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies says the Israeli occupation continues to escalate against the Palestinian people by increasing the number of arrests against them.

Palestinians arrested during confrontations with Israeli police in Al-Quds neighborhood of Issawiya, Friday, June 28, 2019 (AP)

The Israeli occupation has escalated its policy of detaining Palestinians over the past month, especially during the raid on the Jenin refugee camp, the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies said Thursday. The Center said it documented 530 cases of arrests in July, including 42 children and 8 women.

"Jenin had the highest number of detainees with 175 cases, followed by Al-Quds with 165 arrests, in addition to the issuance of several expulsion and house arrest orders against residents of Al-Quds," the Center's monthly report on arrests found.

"Four individuals from Gaza, all of whom were fishermen, were arrested off the northern Gaza coast, three nautical miles away from the shore, and their boat was seized," the report said.

Children, women dealt with all the same

Riyad Al-Ashqar, the director of the Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies, mentioned that over the past month, the occupation continued to target children and women with arrests, house arrest, and expulsion. It found 42 cases of minors getting arrested in the Tel Al-Rumaida area in the middle of Al-Khalil after being brutally beaten.

Eight women were also arrested, one of whom was shot before her apprehension at the hands of the Israeli occupation forces. She was taken to the "Hadasa" hospital in the Palestinian territories occupied in 1948 before she was indicted over allegedly attempting to carry out a stabbing operation near the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Jenin, a flashpoint for arrests

Al-Ashqar explained that during the aggression on the Jenin refugee camp, widespread arrests were carried out, with more than 300 people detained. The occupation forces established a temporary investigation center in a house on the outskirts of the camp and subjected the detainees to harsh interrogations for hours, with their hands tied and eyes blindfolded.

The occupation forces transferred 130 young detainees, including some wounded, to a military camp for interrogation, as some of them were critically injured by missile fragments and live bullets.

After a few days of detention, the occupation courts issued administrative detention orders against some of them after failing to prove any charges against them.

Arrests in Al-Quds

Al-Ashqar pointed out that the occupation authorities continued their escalation against the people of Al-Quds, particularly through arrests. There were 165 recorded arrests in the Palestinian capital, including 25 minors and 3 women, one of whom was a child.

During July, the occupation courts issued over 21 expulsion orders, the majority of which were related to prohibiting access to Al-Aqsa Mosque and its surroundings. They also issued 25 house arrest orders, including 22 against minors. Additionally, 11 administrative detention orders were issued against prisoners from Al-Quds, in addition to 27 received actual prison sentences for varying periods.

Administrative detention orders

Al-Ashqar revealed that the occupation courts continued to issue administrative detention orders against prisoners. In July, they issued 225 administrative detention orders, including 127 renewal orders and 98 orders against prisoners for the first time, most of whom were previously released prisoners who were re-arrested and subjected to administrative detention for varying periods.

The Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies reported in June that Palestinian children in Israeli prisons are subjected to one or more forms of humiliation and physical and psychological torture through a number of systematic tools and methods that contradict international norms and conventions on children's rights. These violations actually start from the first moment of arrest and continue during the period of investigation and detention.

In a press release issued on the International Day of Innocent Children Victims of Aggression, which was recognized by the UN, the Center highlighted that Palestinian children are more vulnerable to abuse than other children because of "the aggressive policies against them," particularly the use of prolonged detentions and cruel interrogation tactics.

The Center detailed that the occupation forces arrested a number of children after they were shot and wounded, some of them seriously, and subjected them to inhumane investigations and interrogations.

Al-Ashqar pointed out that the occupation has arrested more than 50,000 Palestinian children, both boys and girls, since 1967, without taking into account their young age, childhood innocence, and weak physical structure, and without providing their minimum basic and humanitarian needs, including 10,000 cases of arrest that have been monitored since the 2015 Al-Quds Uprising to date.

Until the end of 2022, the number of children imprisoned in Israeli prisons reached about 160 children placed in special sections in the "Ofer", "Megiddo," and "Damon" prisons not to mention a number of detention centers, including two girls placed in "Damon" prison: Noufout Hammad (16 years) from Al-Quds and Zamzam Al-Qawasmeh (17 years) from Al-Khalil.