As many as 95 per cent of Palestinian children arrested by Israeli authorities were tortured during detention, a new report said.

The Palestinian Ministry of Information said yesterday that the Israeli abuses against Palestinian children included beating, kicking, blindfolding and handcuffing them during detention as well as interrogating them without the presence of a lawyer or a family member, in violation of laws that prevent interrogating minors or extracting confessions from them by coercion.

According to the report, a majority of the Israeli violations against Palestinian children took place after midnight.

The report said the arrests are part of an intensive Israeli campaign targeting school children especially at checkpoints erected inside the occupied city of Jerusalem and at all entrances to Palestinian villages, towns, and camps in the West Bank.

According to the report, until 2015, the average number of Palestinian children detained by Israel was 700, however, the number has increased to 4,000 by the beginning of October 2017.

Israel arrested as many as 1,467 children in 2017 and 1,063 children in 2018 while 118 children were arrested during the first two months of 2019.

The total number of Palestinian children arrested between 2000 and 2018 has reached 16,000.

Meanwhile, Israel continues to detain 230 children.

The Israeli government has increased punishments against Palestinian children under the age of 14, lengthening prison terms issued against them with the Knesset’s help to 20 years.

The report also highlighted that the Israeli authorities have killed 83 Palestinian children since the end of 2017.

Source: Middle East Monitor