TPC Staff
The Palestine Chronicle / August 28, 2026
Around 370 Palestinian children remain in Israeli detention, facing reported beatings, deprivation and harsh conditions, according to a Palestinian rights group.
Hundreds of children behind bars
Around 370 Palestinian children were being held in Israeli prisons as of early August 2026, according to a new report by the Palestinian Center for the Defense of Prisoners.
Most of the children are detained in Megiddo and Ofer prisons, the organization said.
They form part of a Palestinian detainee population that exceeded 9,400 at the beginning of August.
The center said the detention of children has become a recurring feature of Israeli arrest campaigns throughout the occupied West Bank and occupied East Jerusalem.
During the first six months of 2026 alone, Palestinian detainee organizations documented 276 arrests of children in the West Bank and Jerusalem.
Since the beginning of Israel’s war in October 2023, more than 25,000 arrests have been recorded across the West Bank and Jerusalem, involving children, women and Palestinians from other sections of society.
The report stressed that the figure of approximately 370 detained children does not provide a complete picture.
The number of children detained from the Gaza Strip, their whereabouts and their conditions remain largely unknown because complete and documented lists have not been made available, particularly for children held in Israeli military detention facilities.
Beatings, blindfolds and deprivation
Testimonies collected from formerly detained Palestinian children described violent arrests frequently carried out when Israeli occupation forces stormed family homes during the night or before dawn.
Children reported being bound and blindfolded before being taken to Israeli military vehicles, detention facilities or interrogation centers.
According to the report, testimonies included accounts of beatings during arrest and transportation, insults, threats and children being kept handcuffed for prolonged periods.
Some said they were denied food and water or prevented from using the bathroom.
During interrogation, former detainees described lengthy questioning sessions, psychological pressure, threats, isolation and sleep deprivation.
The report said interrogators had also exploited children’s fears for their relatives as a means of exerting pressure.
Conditions inside Israeli prisons were described as including severe overcrowding and shortages of food, clothing and hygiene supplies, alongside restrictions on movement and family visits.
Sick and wounded children face additional risks, the center warned, citing delayed medical treatment, denial of medication and malnutrition.
It also warned that overcrowding and shortages of water and hygiene supplies increase the danger of skin conditions and infectious diseases spreading among detained children.
Administrative detention and lasting trauma
The report also highlighted Israel’s continued use of administrative detention against Palestinian minors, allowing them to be imprisoned without charge or trial on the basis of undisclosed evidence and with detention orders repeatedly renewable.
According to figures cited by the center, 180 Palestinian children had been subjected to administrative detention by the end of 2025.
The organization warned that the consequences of detention often continue long after children are released.
Former child detainees may experience persistent fear, nightmares, sleep disturbances, anxiety, withdrawal and a lasting loss of their sense of security, the report said.
Detention also interrupts their education. Extended absences from school can produce learning gaps, difficulties concentrating and declining academic performance, in some cases contributing to children dropping out altogether.
The center warned that psychological, social and educational rehabilitation programs available to released Palestinian children remain insufficient.
It called on the United Nations, UNICEF and international human rights organizations to treat the detention of Palestinian children as an urgent protection issue.
The organization also urged international bodies to press for an end to violations against detained minors, monitor sick and wounded children, secure access to Palestinian children detained from Gaza and establish their whereabouts and fate.
(TPC, AA, QNN)
