370 Palestinian children are held in Israeli prisons, centre says
Most are at Megiddo and Ofer, where released minors describe beatings, restraint and food withheld. Another 276 children were taken in the first half of the year.
The Palestinian Centre for the Defence of Prisoners said on Thursday that around 370 Palestinian children are being held in Israeli jails, and that most of them are kept at two prisons, Megiddo and Ofer.
And it said the children in those prisons live in conditions it called severe, and are mistreated by the staff who guard them.
Children who have since been let go have described being struck, tied and threatened while inside, the centre said, and given too little to eat and drink. It listed medical neglect and malnutrition among the other conditions it has recorded.
The centre counted 276 arrests of children across the occupied West Bank and Jerusalem in the first six months of this year, and said the effect of those arrests shows in the children's bodies and in their minds.
Its argument is that the practice has stopped being exceptional. Holding minors is now a standing feature of Israeli arrest campaigns in the West Bank and occupied Jerusalem, the centre said, rather than something that happens case by case.
It asked UNICEF, the United Nations and other international bodies for concrete steps to protect the children now in custody, and set out what it wants for them: medical treatment and health care, schooling, and visits from their families, in line with the international standards written for children in detention.