The Palestine Center for Prisoners Studies Saturday said that it had monitored the arrest of 550 Palestinian minors by the Israeli forces during the year 2020, among them 52 who were under 14 years of age.

The director of the center, Riad Al-Ashqar, said in a statement, a copy of which obtained by Safa, that Israel continued to target the minors, with arrest, abuse and detention in harsh conditions and imposing harsh sentences and heavy fines, despite calls made by international institutions to release them due to the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic.
 
"All the detained children were subjected to torture and abuse from the first moment of arrest by taking them from their homes in the late hours of the night, or kidnapping them from the streets and at checkpoints," Al-Ashqar said.

He added that they "are subjected to multiple forms of abuse and humiliation, including severe beatings, insults, threats, and intimidation."

Moreover, Al-Ashqar confirmed that the Israeli forces arrested 10 children during the past year after shooting and injuring them, adding that the forces interrogated them in hospitals, and blackmailed them to confess in exchange for treatment and medical care.

He pointed out that the Israeli authorities last year legislated violations of the rights of children, as they made amendments to Military Order No. 1651, with the aim of removing protection for children in the age group between 12 and 14 years.

In the same vein, Al-Ashqar stated that the military courts continue to impose heavy financial fines on child prisoners to add a burden on their families in light of the deteriorating economic conditions in the occupied Palestinian territories.

He said that Israel is still detaining 170 children in three prisons (Megiddo, Ofer, and Damon), in addition to others in the detention and investigation centers.