RAMALLAH — The Palestinian Center for Prisoners' Advocacy has reported that at least 370 Palestinian children remain held across Israeli detention centers and military prisons. The majority of these children are held in two primary correctional facilities, Megiddo Prison and Ofer Prison, following an ongoing escalation of mass arrest campaigns across the West Bank.
The report underscores how the detention of minors has turned into a routine practice for Israeli security forces during raid operations throughout the occupied Palestinian territories. Rights observers have condemned the practice as a violation of international human rights conventions governing the protection of children in armed conflict zones.
Wave of Detentions in the West Bank
Arrest operations targeting Palestinians in the West Bank no longer spare minors. Monitoring groups have observed that intensified raid campaigns have resulted in elevated rates of detention among school-age children. Youths swept up in these raids are frequently seized directly from their family homes during nighttime or predawn hours before being transferred to military interrogation facilities.
Megiddo Prison in northern Israel and Ofer Prison near Ramallah serve as the primary concentration hubs for detained minors. The concentration of young prisoners in these two military installations has heightened grave concerns over the physical and psychological well-being of children who remain cut off from their families without adequate legal counsel from the time of their arrest.
Policy of Detention Without Trial
The Palestinian Center for Prisoners' Advocacy also placed sharp focus on the expanding use of administrative detention against minors. This military policy authorizes Israeli authorities to hold individuals indefinitely without formal charges or trial, relying exclusively on secret evidence that is withheld even from defense attorneys.
Subjecting children to administrative detention is widely viewed as a severe breach of international legal standards. International frameworks mandate that the detention of minors must serve only as a measure of last resort and for the shortest possible duration, rather than being employed arbitrarily as a mechanism of political pressure.
Health Threats and Medical Rights
Conditions within Israeli prisons have likewise drawn sharp condemnation from international human rights bodies. Child detainees reportedly face squalid cell conditions, severe overcrowding, inadequate ventilation, and a lack of food meeting basic nutritional standards.
Compounding poor sanitation, restricted access to healthcare poses a critical danger to the physical endurance of child detainees. International humanitarian agencies have repeatedly warned that withholding or delaying medical care for sick or injured detainees can result in lasting damage. Advocacy groups continue to call on the international community and United Nations bodies to intervene swiftly, pressing Israeli authorities to allow independent inspections and unconditionally release all detained children.
370 Palestinian children detained in Israeli prisons
Reference source: AcehTribunnews – 370 Anak Palestina Masih Ditahan di Penjara Israel, Kelompok Advokasi Serukan Perlindungan
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