Israel held 640 juveniles since Oct. 7, subjected them to punitive measures, torture: Rights group

RAMALLAH, Palestine

The Israeli army has detained 640 Palestinian children from the occupied West Bank since Oct. 7 of last year, with many subjected to torture, medical negligence, and retaliatory measures, said a rights group on Monday.

The Palestinian Prisoner Society (PPS) said in a statement that the figure includes those who have been released from Israeli jails.

It said there are currently 250 children languishing in Israeli jails alongside adult Palestinian detainees, in violation of Israeli law, as children should have been in juvenile detention centers.

It added that on Sunday, Israeli forces detained a 7-year-old child Bahaa Kathem Haj-Mohammad from al-Mughayyir town, near Ramallah city, and beat him before his release.

An unspecified number of children from the Gaza Strip are being held at Megiddo Prison in northern Israel, the statement added.

Tensions have been running high across the West Bank since Israel launched a deadly military offensive against the Gaza Strip after an attack by the Hamas group on Oct. 7, 2023.

At least 548 Palestinians have since been killed and nearly 5,200 others injured by Israeli army fire in the occupied territory, according to the Health Ministry.

Israel stands accused of “genocide” at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), which in its latest ruling has ordered Tel Aviv to immediately halt its military operation in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where over a million Palestinians had sought refuge from the war before it was invaded on May 6.

*Writing by Ahmed Asmar in Ankara