Palestinian children held in Israeli prisons are subjected to physical and verbal abuse by Israeli forces, a Palestinian commission says.
The Commission of Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs released a report based on testimonies given by 45 children under 18, from Jerusalem al-Quds, who are held in the Israeli prison of Damon, the Arabic-language Egyptian newspaper al-Youm al-Sabe’ reported.
The children said they were severely beaten by the so-called “Nahshon” forces who accompanied them during transfer to and from courts and during transfer from other prisons to Damon. They said that Israeli troops punched and kicked them in all parts of their bodies.
The children added that they were subjected to insults in the deportation vehicles, or in the courts’ waiting rooms.
One of the elder prisoners who was responsible for the children detained in Damon said that instances of verbal and physical abuse were growing and that signs of beatings were visible on the minors’ bodies and faces when they came back to their prison cells.
The source added that immediate complaints were submitted to the prison authorities, but no response was received, according to the PNN.
The commission said the unit, known as “Nahshon,” was tasked with transferring detainees from one prison to another, and from prison to the courts. The agents of the unit were also in charge of the prisons.
The unit regularly forces detainees to strip naked, on the pretext of inspection, breaks into their rooms, and scatters their belongings.
More than 7,000 Palestinian prisoners are currently held in some 17 Israeli jails. Dozens of them are serving multiple life sentences.
It is estimated that between 500 and 700 Palestinian children, some as young as 12 years old, have been detained and brought to trial in Israeli courts. The most common charge against them is stone-throwing.
