Palestinian Center: Palestinian minors faced 865 arrest cases in 2022

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The Palestinian Prisoners Center for Studies confirmed that the occupation authorities continued during the year 2022 to target Palestinian children, noting that 865 cases of arrest of minors were recorded, some of whom were seriously injured, and some did not exceed 10 years of age.

The Palestine Center said: “Although the international human rights conventions stressed the need to provide protection for children and give them opportunities for education and development in a safe and proper manner, the occupation forces, with direct instructions from the highest political and security levels in the entity, made the arrest of Palestinian children a primary goal, and practiced internationally prohibited torture right from the first moment of their arrest."

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For his part, the researcher and director of the center, Riyad al-Ashqar, confirmed that, "the occupation deliberately intensifies the arrest of minors with the aim of deterring them from participating in confrontations with the occupation or thinking of carrying out acts of resistance. These arrests destroy the future of children, and create a weak and fearful generation. Therefore, the entity gave the green light to its soldiers to target them for killing and arrest, house arrest, deportation, and other crimes against children."

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Al-Ashqar indicated that, "during the year 2022, 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 inside hospitals," noting that, "some of them were transferred to interrogation centers shortly after being wounded and before their recovery."

Al-Ashqar revealed that among the children arrested during the past year, 45 children did not exceed the age of 12, and some of them did not exceed the age of 10 years.

He added that the matter, "came to the arrest of a 3-year-old child, Youssef Sanad Qabha while he was passing with his mother at a military checkpoint south of Jenin, and forcing him before his release to take off his shirt under the pretext that he was wearing a picture of a rifle." 

Likewise, the occupation authorities resorted to detaining sick children and people of special needs in harsh conditions, according to al-Ashqar.

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Al-Ashqar pointed out that, "Last year, the occupation escalated the issuance of administrative orders against children, as the occupation courts issued 19 administrative orders against minors, and a number of them spent periods in administrative detention, and a number of others exceeded childhood age while inside Israeli prisons, while 4 children are still under arrest."

Likewise, during the year 2022, the occupation courts continued to impose financial fines on children, in addition to actual rulings, with the aim of draining their families. Ofer court reached a point were it issued fines against minors equivalent to 137 thousand dollars.

During the year 2022, the occupation authorities also issued more than 240 house arrest orders against minors, most of whom are from the occupied city of al-Quds, despite its severe psychological impact on children, and issued more than 135 deportation orders against minors, whether from al-Aqsa Mosque or from their homes, for different periods of up to several days and months.

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Al-Ashqar pointed out that the occupation has arrested more than 50,000 Palestinian children, both male, and female, 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 the occupation prisons reached about 160 children placed in special sections in "Ofer prison", "Megiddo and Damon prisons" and 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.

The occupation continues to violate the rights of children and treats them as terrorists. Therefore, the majority of children who were arrested were 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.

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The administrations of occupation prisons detain children in detention centers and prisons that lack the minimum level of human necessities, as it deprives dozens of children of family visits or their lawyer, and strips them of their right to education and medical treatment, and from basic needs such as bringing in clothes and personal items and books.

The prison administration does not hesitate to carry out raids on their rooms, search them, and impose penalties against them, such as isolation, withdrawal of personal belongings, and deprivation of the “Cantina” (food and drink cafeteria), in addition to the continued abuse by their jailers, who continuously insult and threaten them, and often place them with criminal detainees.

Al-Ashqar considered that "what happened with the captive child Ahmad Manasra is a realistic embodiment and a living witness to the crimes committed against children, including psychological and physical torture, as Manasra contracted a difficult mental illness that poses a danger to his life, and he suffers from symptoms of depression, isolation, and introversion, and no longer recognizes anyone, and the occupation is still refusing to release him and has extended his solitary confinement more than once.”

The Palestine Center called on the international community and organizations concerned with children's rights to assume their responsibilities towards Palestinian children and the crimes they are exposed to that exceeded all limits, and to oblige the occupation to implement the charters and agreements related to children to put an end to their ongoing suffering that is getting worse daily.