Middle East Monitor / February 11, 2022
Israeli forces arrested 502 Palestinians in January, human rights organizations said yesterday.
In a joint statement, the Commission of Detainees and Ex-detainees’ Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Club, Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association, and Wadi Hilweh Information Centre reported that the detainees had included “54 children, one of whom was under 12 years old, and six women.”
“The number of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons has reached around 4,500 by the end of January, including 34 women, 180 minors, and about 500 under administrative detention,” the statement pointed out, in reference to Israel’s policy of holding Palestinians without charge or trial.
The statement added that the occupation authorities were continuing “to target Palestinian university students over their college activities.”
The organizations’ statement came a day after Israeli forces arrested a young Palestinian named, Tamer Shawamra, after storming his home in Ramallah. The Israeli army had no immediate comment on the matter.
The rights groups noted that the coronavirus was “spreading in all Israeli prisons, especially Ofer Prison, where the number of infections had exceeded 500 cases.”
