On World Children’s Day, three leading Palestinian prisoner advocacy organizations—The Commission for Detainees and Ex-Detainees Affairs, the Palestinian Prisoners’ Society, and Ad-Dameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association—issued a joint report exposing the systematic physical and psychological abuse of Palestinian children in Israeli custody.
The report describes decades of violations against Palestinian children, including killings, injuries, denial of education, nighttime invasions, and mass abductions.
Human rights groups documented over 1,630 abductions of, including Jerusalem, in a relatively short timeframe, while dozens more from Gaza remain forcibly disappeared, denied family visits, and subjected to organized abuse.
|On World Children’s Day, Palestine Mourns Thousands of Slain Children|
As of today, 350 children remain imprisoned, including two girls, in conditions that flagrantly violate international standards for the protection of minors.
These children face torture, starvation, medical neglect, isolation, and systematic deprivation, including the confiscation of personal items and near-total denial of contact with their families.
Testimonies from recently released children reveal that Israeli forces deliberately isolate minors from the moment of abduction, subjecting them to beatings and direct harm.
Nearly all detained children have endured at least one form of physical or psychological torture, in clear violation of international law and child protection conventions.
Daily life in Israeli prisons has become a machinery of cruelty, especially since the onset of the genocide in Gaza.
Children are held in overcrowded, poorly ventilated cells with insufficient clothing and bedding, restricted movement, and repeated assaults by special units.
Medical abuse has intensified, with widespread outbreaks of skin diseases like scabies due to lack of hygiene, and complete denial of treatment.
Children are routinely given inadequate painkillers and denied hospital transfers, while starvation has led to serious health deterioration.
The case of Walid Khaled Ahmad, a child from Silwad near Ramallah, who died in Megiddo prison in March 2025, exemplifies the lethal consequences of these policies.
A forensic report confirmed that malnutrition, dehydration, and untreated infections led to his death—one of many children who have died in custody since the war began.
In Gaza, children abducted since October 7, 2023, have been subjected to forced disappearance, torture, and use as human shields, according to rights groups.
The exact number of detained children remains unknown due to restrictions on access and communication.
Survivors report being beaten, blindfolded, and forced into combat zones, with some held in destroyed homes for days without food or medical care.
Administrative detention, a practice of imprisonment without charge or trial, has surged against children.
As of late 2025, over 112 Palestinian children are held under administrative orders, the highest number ever recorded. These children are denied legal representation and face indefinite detention based on secret evidence, in violation of international law.
The report concludes with a call for immediate international action: to end Israel’s war of extermination, halt all crimes against children, enforce the advisory opinion of the International Court of Justice declaring the occupation illegal, and impose full sanctions and accountability measures on the Israeli state.
