On World Children’s Day… ‘Israel’ killed 15 Palestinian children, arrested 1149 this year

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- While the world marks World Children’s Day, the occupation state has killed 15 Palestinian children and detained 1149 others in the period between the start of 2021 and the end of October.

The Ministry of Education and the Prisoners Association said in two separate reports, issued marking World Children’s Day, that Israeli forces target children during raids of houses and schools. Israelis carried out over 100 attacks on schools and used tear gas, live ammunition, and rubber-coated bullets, according to the reports.

The ministry called on international organizations to provide protection for Palestinian children and schools and to stop the Israeli ongoing violations against children.

The Prisoners’ Association said that ‘Israel’ continues to detain 160 children in prisons.

It added that the Israelis have kidnapped nearly 19,000 children under the age of 18, including hundreds of children under the age of ten, since the Second Intifada in September 2000.

Torture against Palestinian children

Testimonies by children detained in Israeli prisons have previously revealed that the Israeli authorities use harsh and cruel methods to deal with Palestinian prisoners, especially children, and that they are subject to different forms of physical and psychological torture during their arrest and detention.

The Prisoners’ Association added that the occupation state is using a systematic and wide-range pattern of torture against children, which poses a blatant violation of international law.

It added that Israeli forces use night arrests, beating, shooting, and deprivation of food and water as forms of torture against children. They also get interrogated in the absence of their parents or lawyers and forced to confess and sign papers that they do not understand.

The occupation authorities also put children in detention centers that lack the minimum standards of humanity, deprive many of them of their right to education and medical treatment, deny them the right to get clothing, personal items, and books, and penalize them at various times and for various reasons.

The report also stated that children are usually sent to military trials and kept in detention for lengthy periods until they become over 16 years old so that they be treated as adults, as the Israeli law defines Palestinian children as those who are under the age of 16 and consider the age of the child at the time of the court rule rather than the arrest.

It said the Israeli occupation courts issue unfair sentences against minors following the amendments introduced to some laws related to Palestinian minors in which the courts can issue high sentences for acts of protest by minors and monitor their social media posts and try them on what they publish as a “security” offense.

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