Israel and Hamas reached an agreement that would lead to a four-day ceasefire in the conflict. In exchange for this end to the bombings, Tel Aviv secured the release of 50 women and children held hostage in the Strip by Islamist militias who killed 35 Israeli children and took many more hostage in an October 7 attack. In return, 150 prisoners will be released, including women and children.
“We reiterate our call to all armed groups to immediately release all other civilians who continue to be held hostage in Gaza,” said Agnès Callamard, Director General of Amnesty International’s International Secretariat, “underlining that hostage-taking is a war crime.” Callamard also called on Israeli authorities to ” He called for “the release of all illegally detained Palestinians, including those held without charge or trial in administrative detention” and reminded that “those who need to be released include many minors, the youngest of whom is 14 years old.” Those who have been detained but have not yet been sentenced.”
There are hundreds of Palestinian children in Israeli prisons, some of whom are detained under military law; often under a special regime called “administrative detention” that allows detention without charge or trial for secret security reasons. According to United Nations data, between 500 and 700 children are arrested and tried in military courts every year. Some of them claim to be as young as 13 years old, Israeli newspaper Haaretz reported some time ago. “These are the only children in the world who have been subjected to systematic trials in military courts,” Jason Lee, national director of Save the Children in the occupied Palestinian territories, denounced last July, on the occasion of the report’s publication by the NGO Defenseless. it is precisely about the detention of Palestinian minors.
“Our investigation shows once again that these children are subjected to serious and widespread abuse by those who are supposed to care for them,” he condemned, adding: “There is no justification for beating children, robbing them, treating them like animals or treating them like animals.” deprive them of their future” and calls for “an end to this abusive military detention system.” According to the NGO’s report, “Palestinian children in the Israeli military detention system suffer physical and emotional abuse: four in five (86%) are beaten, and almost half (42%) suffer injuries after arrest, including gunshot wounds and fractures.” bones.”
A United Nations report dated October 20 claims that “Israel subjects Palestinian children to severe physical and psychological trauma, burdening them with fears and hardships that no child should have to endure.” According to data from B’Tselem, an association for the defense of human rights in Israel, at the end of September 2023, the Israeli Prison Service was detaining 146 Palestinian children aged 14 and over for reasons described as “security”. However, these figures will be partial, as the association reported that data published since October 2020 on persons arbitrarily detained at military facilities is incomplete. The report states, “The figures from the army are received with a significant delay and do not provide detailed information about the legal status of the detainees.”
Many Palestinian children are arrested for throwing stones at Israeli forces. According to the law approved in 2015, anyone who throws stones at an Israeli military vehicle faces a prison sentence of up to 10 years, and up to 20 years if intent to cause serious harm to those inside the vehicle is proven. Conflicts between Palestinian youth and Israeli police routinely turn violent, and stone-throwing has long been a symbol of Palestinian resistance since the first uprising, or intifada, against Israel in the late 1980s and early 1980s. The arrest is almost a blessing for young Palestinians who, in some cases, take part in clashes with occupation forces, as many of them are also killed.
As of August 22, Israeli forces had killed at least 34 Palestinian children in the West Bank, according to Human Rights Watch, and things have only gotten worse since the Hamas offensive. According to documents collected by Defense for Children International-Palestine (Dcip), Israeli forces have also killed 51 children in the West Bank since October 7. Israeli military occupation in 1967.
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Source: Today IT
Karen Clayton is a seasoned journalist and author at The Nation Update, with a focus on world news and current events. She has a background in international relations, which gives her a deep understanding of the political, economic and social factors that shape the global landscape. She writes about a wide range of topics, including conflicts, political upheavals, and economic trends, as well as humanitarian crisis and human rights issues.
