Israeli Military 'Terrorizing' Palestinian Children in Detention, Aid Group Says

The humanitarian group Save the Children said Thursday that it has seen testimony indicating that Israeli forces are subjecting Palestinian kids held without charge in military detention to abusive and inhumane treatment, including beatings.

HaMoked, an Israel-based human rights group, estimates that Israel is currently holding around 9,000 Palestinians in its prisons without trial. Israel prosecutes up to 700 Palestinian children in secretive military courts each year, according to one advocacy group.

Citing the Palestinian Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, Save the Children said Thursday that "conditions for children held in prisons have significantly deteriorated" in recent months, "with children who used to be housed with five detainees now sharing rooms with about 10 other detainees including adults, putting them at risk."

"Other child testimonies gathered by the organizations Defense for Children International (DCI) and YMCA—also shared with Save the Children—told of starvation, abuse, and inhumane treatment, with some children released with injuries and blood-stained clothing."

In addition to physical attacks, children held in Israeli detention have also reported psychological abuse. One child released from Israeli detention late last year as part of a hostage deal said he was "left terrified when he was called from his cell to be released, and the prison guards made him believe that he was going to be executed," according to a YMCA specialist.

"The government of Israel's blanket secrecy has left hundreds of families across Gaza and the occupied West Bank completely in the dark."

Jason Lee, Save the Children's country director in the occupied Palestinian territory, said Thursday that "what we know about how these children are being treated is unacceptable, but what we don't know could be even worse."

"The government of Israel's blanket secrecy has left hundreds of families across Gaza and the occupied West Bank completely in the dark, unaware of where their children are, whether they are safe, and the conditions and treatment that they are being subjected to," said Lee. "There's no justification for beating and stripping children, dehumanizing and terrorizing them."

"The abuse of Palestinian children in military detention was a child protection crisis before 7 October, and it has only become worse," he continued. "With the world's focus understandably on the unparalleled horrors children are facing in Gaza, we must not let abuse of children in the West Bank go unnoticed. There must be an end to this abusive military detention system and a definitive cease-fire now."

Save the Children's report comes less than two weeks after a group of United Nations experts called for an immediate investigation into reports that the IDF has arbitrarily arrested and sexually abused Palestinian women and girls in the Gaza Strip.

"Many have reportedly been subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, denied menstruation pads, food and medicine, and severely beaten," the experts said. "On at least one occasion, Palestinian women detained in Gaza were allegedly kept in a cage in the rain and cold, without food."