Palestinian minor administrative detainee in Israeli jails tests positive for COVID-19

Occupied Palestine (QNN)- 18-year-old Palestinian administrative detainee in Israeli jails, Amal Nakhleh, has tested positive for COVID-19 while suffering from a chronic autoimmune disease that affects his breathing and swallowing.

The Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP) confirmed on Tuesday that Nakhleh has tested positive for COVID-19 while he is held in Israeli military detention, calling the occupation authorities to immediately release him.

On Jan. 13, 2022, the Israeli occupation authorities extended Nakhleh’s administrative detention order until May 18, 2022, representing the third renewal and fourth term of his administrative detention order since his arrest.

On Jan. 16, 2022, Amal turned 18. Amal was a child, 17 years old, when he was re-arrested by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) from his home in Al-Jalazon Refugee Camp on 21 January 2021.

Since then, he continues to be held under administrative detention, without charge or trial, despite his age, and more seriously, the precarity of his health condition.

Amal was born three months prematurely and he suffers from myasthenia gravis, a rare neuromuscular disorder causing weakness in the skeletal muscles, which requires specialized medical care, regular medication, and constant monitoring of symptoms to avoid further health complications, according to the DCIP.

Just a few months prior to his detention, Amal underwent surgery to remove a cancerous mass.

Amal was previously arrested by IOF and later released after 40 days of incarceration on 10 December 2020 due to his young age and physical and psychological health.

Still, less than two months after, IOF raided Amal’s home, re-arresting him and placing him under administrative detention due to “secret material,” alleging he poses a “security risk to the region.”

According to medical reports, Amal has since faced new compounding health concerns requiring medical attention.

The severity of his detention, as a child detainee suffering from a multitude of health conditions, further compounded by the COVID-19 pandemic, led UN Human Rights experts and Special Rapporteurs to issue a communiqué on 25 February 2021 by expressing concern for Amal’s administrative detention and urging “all necessary interim measures be taken to halt the alleged violations and prevent their re-occurrence…[and] to ensure the accountability of any person responsible.”

Due to his health conditions, Amal cannot be vaccinated against COVID-19 and must take immune-suppressants, meaning that his life now is at high risk as he has contracted COVID-19.

As is well known, Israeli prison settings are not appropriate for treating and monitoring autoimmune diseases, let alone providing adequate protection against COVID-19.

“Amal Nakhleh’s case highlights the Israeli apartheid regime’s systematic targeting of Palestinian children, demonstrating that no one is exempt from Israel’s arbitrary policy of administrative detention and deliberate medical neglect, not even vulnerable Palestinian children or when grave health conditions emerge,” the Palestinian prisoners rights organization Addameer said.

Neither Amal nor his family are aware of the charges against him and have been informed by the Israeli occupation authorities that it is a “confidential administrative case.”

Amal’s legal team stated that this is one of the most prolonged cases of administrative attention of a child that they have come across.

Last week, following the extension of his administrative detention, UNICEF, UNRWA and OHCHR called upon the Israeli occupation authorities to immediately release Amal Nakhleh.

“The administrative detention imposed on Amal without charges and based on classified evidence is a form of arbitrary detention not permissible under public international law. It deprives him of the appropriate care required by his underlying medical condition, exposing him to increased risks of aggravation of his health,” said the UN agencies in a statement.