Radio Cadena Agramonte emisiora de Camagüey
Ramallah, Jan 9. - Israeli security forces arrested over 600 Palestinian minors in the occupied territories last year, who were then subjected to all forms of torture and abuse, an NGO denounced today.
Israel deliberately and systematically targets children with the aim of destroying their lives and future, criticized researcher Riyad al-Ashqar, director of the Palestinian Prisoner Studies Center.
In statements to the Shehab news agency, the expert warned that through its actions, Israel attempts to negatively affect their psychological and physical well-being and create a weak and fearful generation that will hesitate to resist the occupation.
To this end, he noted, repressive agencies carry out arrests, harsh interrogations, and inhuman detention conditions.
Al-Ashqar stated that the authorities of that country have made the arrest of Palestinian children a primary objective.
Since the 1967 war, when the Gaza Strip and the West Bank were occupied, more than 55,000 minors have been detained, but this campaign intensified after the start of the new cycle of violence in October 2023, he emphasized.
Since then, he indicated, measures of abuse and torture against them have increased, as have harsher sentences.
The activist accused the Army and Police of arresting children under the age of 10 or who were injured.
Many of the latter were transported in military vehicles not medically equipped, were interrogated in hospitals, or transferred to prisons before recovering, he questioned.
The NGO director highlighted that hundreds of Palestinian minors were deprived of education as a result of repeated arrests or their detention for long periods.
Torture begins from the first moment with the assault on their homes in the early morning before transferring them to investigation centers that lack the most basic public health requirements, he insisted.
There, they are subjected to all forms of mistreatment, abuse, deprivation, hunger, medical neglect, and beatings, he explained.
The prison administration confines them in sections and rooms unsuitable for human life, where they lack minimum conditions, which creates an environment conducive to the spread of diseases and epidemics, he stated.
In this regard, he revealed that dozens contracted scabies due to the lack of hygiene implements and water, the prohibition of bathing, and overcrowding in the cells.
Their suffering worsens in winter due to the lack of heating, blankets, and sufficient warm clothing, he expressed. (Source: Prensa Latina)
