On 5 April, the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (PCBS) revealed that 78 Palestinian children under the age of 18 were killed in the Gaza Strip and the occupied West Bank in 2021.
Statistics show that since the year 2000, Israeli occupation forces have killed 2,203 Palestinian children.
According to records released by the Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCIP), 61 children were killed in the Gaza Strip and 17 children were killed in the West Bank in 2021.
On 4 April, the Palestinian Prisoners Society (PPS) published a report indicating that over 9,000 Palestinian children have been detained by Israeli forces across the Palestinian territories since 2015.
The report added that around 19,000 minors, including children as young as 10, have been detained since the Second Intifada in the year 2000.
Over 7,000 Palestinians are currently being held in the Israeli prison system, 160 of them being minors.
Numerous minors have provided testimonies illustrating the harsh conditions they endured inside Israeli jails, including psychological and physical torture.
Earlier this year, Medhat Deeba, a lawyer representing incarcerated children, noted that Israel’s judiciary is in “complete violation of international humanitarian law,” as it deprives children of “proper education and normal life.”
“Through home confinement, the occupation aims to ensure the existence of an uneducated segment of children who suffer from psychological disorders, and this is a deliberate strategy as these children are the first line of defense for Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa Mosque,” he added.
Palestinian activist groups have repeatedly said that Israel’s use of administrative detention centers for children is a “bankrupt tactic.” Several UN agencies have also criticized Israel’s incarceration practices, yet no action has been taken against them.
Israel’s notoriety for prosecuting children in military courts has yet to be resolved, with many children subjected to interrogations while blindfolded, coerced into giving detailed confessions, placed in solitary confinement, and denied legal counsel.