Report: 850 Palestinian children arrested by Israel in 2021

A report by the Committee of Families of Al-Quds Prisoners, a Palestinian advocating group, highlighted the unbridled atrocities committed against Palestinian children by the occupying forces.

The report, which was initially published by Alquds Alarabi, said some of the Palestinian children had been handed sentences with specified incarceration time, while others were given sentences with an unspecified duration of incarceration.

Amjad Abu Asab, head of the committee, was quoted as saying in the report that the incarcerated children face severe restrictions. They are barred from leaving their domicile and denied access even to the balcony or windows.

He further added that the Palestinian children and their families face punitive action if the incarceration terms are breached.

Abu Asab said the parents of children are forced to assume the role of “jailers”, which has a negative psychological impact on the children, as they are prevented from stepping out or playing with other children.

Medhat Deeba, a lawyer for one of the incarcerated Palestinian children, noted the Israeli judiciary’s practice of home incarceration of children was in violation of the international humanitarian law and amounted to psychological torture.

He added that the punishment of home incarceration also deprived the children of proper education and normal life.

Hundreds of Palestinian children are regularly held in Israeli jails under the notorious and draconian administrative detention policy of the Israeli regime.

The policy allows the regime forces to imprison Palestinians, including women and children, for years without charge or trial.

The UN agencies have repeatedly urged Israel to end the practice, but the calls have gone unheeded.

According to reports, more than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are presently held in some 17 Israeli jails.

Israel has earned notoriety for arresting and prosecuting children routinely in military courts. These tribunals function in the absence of legal checks and balances and make fair trials virtually impossible.

According to advocacy groups, Israeli regime prosecutes between 500 and 700 Palestinian children from the occupied territories in military courts every year, and most of them are denied a fair trial.

They are interrogated blindfolded and forced to give confessions. They are not even allowed to have legal counsel and many of them are put into solitary confinement.