Middle East Monitor / July 24, 2023
Israeli occupation forces arrested 570 Palestinian minors in the first half of 2023, a Palestinian rights group said, noting that 435 of them are from the occupied city of Jerusalem.
Director of the Palestine Centre for Prisoners’ Studies, Riyad al-Ashqar, stated that the number recorded is 15 per cent higher than arrests in the same period last year.
Al-Ashqar stressed that 29 children were under 12 years old, including ten-year-olds Rayyan Abu Rayyan and Omar al-Natshah.
He added that the Israeli military court in Ofer prison issued fines of 175,000 shekels ($48,700) against the minors during the first half of the year.
Administrative detention is used by the Israeli occupation to jail Palestinians without charge or trial for renewable periods of up to six months and based on ‘secret evidence’ which even their lawyer can’t see.
“Dozens of children were held under house arrest following their release,” Al-Ashqar said, adding that Israeli courts issued 23 administrative detention orders against Palestinian children in the same period.
Some 160 Palestinian children are currently held in different Israeli prisons under harsh conditions.
